Ministry planning surprise New Year's gift for the poor
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Natural Resources and Environment Minister General Dapong Ratanasuwan yesterday said the ministry would have a surprise New Year's gift for poor people, which would be finalised by next week.
Dapong had earlier unveiled the first gift to allocate 53,000 rai (8,480 hectares) of land nationwide for agricultural use to 1.6 million people whose annual income is under Bt30,000, beginning in Chiang Mai, Mukdahan, Chumphon and Nakhon Phanom provinces.
There are three types of land considered for the scheme – 5,000 rai of deserted land that can be distributed immediately; the 4.5 million rai that people have been using without title deeds; and the 14 million rai whose use was suspended for ownership verification.
Dapong said the negotiation to reduce Bt9.6 billion that the Pollution Control Department (PCD) had to pay the six-firm joint venture over the Klong Dan project, as per last month’s ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, was ongoing. He said the PCD was working on repairing the project’s facilities to maximise its use.
