'Heed public on water projects'

The Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) has modified its method of informing people about the expected impacts of the scheme. 

Ronnachai Chainiwattana, coordinator of the Land Forest and Natural Resources Network for the lower northern region, who attended a public hearing at Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University last Friday, said local people who will be affected by the project, such as dams and flood diversion channels, have not been given any information related to the projects that will be constructed in their villages. 

They were not invited by the authorities to attend the hearing even though they will be directly affected by the project. The village headman had taken only those people agreeing with the project to attend the hearing, he said.

“Nobody can answer their questions about the positive and negative impacts of the project, even the location of the project,” he said.

Ronnachai last Friday led a group of 500 villagers to join the hearing. He and another villager were arrested and detained for 75 minutes by police as they tried to enter the convention hall at the university used to hold the hearing, organised by the PM’s Office.

“They were afraid that if they were not able to voice their concerns to the agencies, they would have trouble in the future because their land will be expropriated,” he added.

Hannarong Yaowalers, chairman of the Integrated Water Management Foundation, said that since the government launched the hearings last month, he had attended at least four. He found the people who will be directly affected were not invited. The government also did not disseminate any information to the people to make their decision before attending the hearing.

The government should open its mind to truly listen to not only the people supporting the project, but also those opposing it, Hannarong said. 

This hearing is not about asking people to agree or disagree with the project. It is about eliciting people’s opinions. Then the government should incorporate the opinions to improve their water and flood scheme before asking them again whether they agree or disagree with the project, he added.

Apichart Anukularmphai, an adviser to the WFMC’s committee on project appraisal, said the WFMC will improve its method of informing people. He and Suphot Tovichakchaikul, secretary-general of the commission, will sit on the panel to answer people’s questions. However, the WFMC was satisfied with the responses from members of the public at the hearings as many of them had directly walked in, instead of following the guidelines for interested people to register online.

Since October, the government has conducted 18 hearings in 18 provinces. It plans to complete 76 hearings within two months. To support the remaining hearings, the WFMC last week approved in principle the allocation of Bt70 million.