Uproar over tree felling prompts highway rethink
HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT officials have suspended the chopping down of mostly teak trees along Highway No 2 in Nan after the plan set off an uproar from residents and environmentalists.
Pracharn Malithong, director of Nan Highway No 2, said yesterday that discussions would be held with the protesters before further clearing of about one kilometre of Nan-Thawangpa Road.
Complaints had flooded in from environmentalists, civic groups and students, who were invited to meet with authorities tomorrow.
Some trees must still be cut down while others would be removed.
Department engineers had inspected the area again and decided the road expansion would continue on one side of a tunnel of trees to avoid too much logging, he said.
The project involves expanding the two-lane road from nine metres to 12m along the 80km stretch from Nan Muang district to Ban Huay Kon in Chalermphrakiat district, near the border with Laos.
About 1,000 trees have been cleared from the route. The protests mostly concerned the tree tunnel, he added.
Residents and civic groups in Nan last month launched a “love the trees” campaign after a Nan resident posted a petition on www.change.org.in
They hoped it would convince the department to stop the project, even though it was aimed at stimulating the provincial economy.
