Pak Bara will rank among nation's top 'green ports': officials
IN the face of ongoing environmental concerns, the Marine Department has vowed to turn the Pak Bara Deep-sea Port Project into one of the country's first "green ports".
“It will be eco-friendly,” Marine Department director-general Chula Sukmanop said at a recent forum.
“The port will accommodate and carry goods only in the form of container ships, which will ensure safety and prevent any possible substance leakage”.
The project is now undergoing a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and preparing an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA).
The SEA will be completed in April 2016, while the EHIA will start as soon as the government approves the budget of Bt120 million.
If given the green light, the Pak Bara Deep-sea Port project will include about 3,000 rai of a national park in Satun’s La-ngu district.
It will also include a land bridge linking the new port to Songkhla Port.
First suggested in 1993, the Pak Bara Deep-sea Port project has been put on hold several times due to environmental concern and opposition from locals.
There have been concerns that this project will damage the marine ecosystem at Pak Bara on the Andaman coast and pollute the local environment.
At a forum organised by Thai Society of Environmental Journalists on Tuesday, Marine Department chief Chula said any adverse impact from the project would be minimised.
He said the long-awaited project was expected to boost Satun’s economy and in turn benefit locals too.
“The port will take up just one per cent of a local national park’s area,” Chula said.
Strong opposition
However, environmentalists and local people opposed to the project claim that construction of the seaport would harm the marine ecosystem and interfere with locals’ lives.
“The government should carefully study the possible outcome of this seaport,” said Somboon Khamhaeng, People’s Network for Satun Development Plan Monitoring Environmental Protection.
“He said that one per cent of the local national park could cause a huge impact.
Somboon said instead of spending a huge budget on the development of Pak Bara Deep-sea Port Project, the government could better spend money on other development projects.
