Interior Ministry steps in to help ease flooding problems
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Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra held an urgent meeting yesterday with Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda and relevant officials to discuss flood-prevention measures. The meeting was held shortly after t
Sukhumbhand cut his working trip to the Netherlands short after Bangkok was hit with flash floods on Monday, which got him into hot water.
Earlier yesterday, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he accepted the criticism against Sukhumbhand for allegedly failing to solve the Bangkok flood problems, adding that the governor would hold a meeting in the afternoon to seek solutions. However, he refused to say if the party would nominate Sukhumbhand as a candidate in the next gubernatorial election.
“I cannot answer that question yet. Our duty for now is to solve the problems to the best of our ability,” he added.
Abhisit said that he has instructed former Bangkok Democrat MPs and a former Bangkok councillor to keep an eye on the problems and keep Sukhumbhand updated.
At the meeting, Anupong pointed out that the meeting was not held to blame anybody but for the Interior Ministry to offer help as Bangkokians had been stuck in traffic for hours due to the flooding and that this problem had to be solved together.
Acknowledging that the city’s drainage pipes were small, Anupong also suggested that the problem could be tackled in three ways: fixing the drainage system with cooperation from related agencies, changing traffic direction in case of flood and removing stalled cars or clearing accident scenes so traffic jams do not last for too long.
