Admin court reconciles differences over wastewater in win for Rayong locals
The Rayong Administrative Court has made history by helping conflicting parties reconcile their differences over a wastewater dispute instead of going in for a final verdict, Stop Global Warming Association president Srisuwan Janya said.
He said the court asked the association, the Rayong Province Industrial Office and Boontaweesin fertiliser factory to meet over the wastewater problem with locals.
The case dates back to last year. Amid the wastewater problem with local people, Boontaweesin submitted the matter to the court in July 2019, asking it to resolve the dispute with a final verdict.
The court, however, ordered the factory in August 2019 to investigate the wastewater problem, locate the leak, check water quality every two months and report to the court. If the operators did not act accordingly, the court said, the Rayong Industrial Office would be made the operator instead and Boontaweesin would be handed a fine not exceeding Bt50,000 per day while having to bear all operating expenses.
The fertiliser factory finally agreed yesterday (August 26) to hire a private wastewater treatment company to carry out the pumping and dredging of all contaminated sludge in Bang Phai canal for treatment from September 8, with expenses of more than Bt13 million.
Srisuwan said the Administrative Court has made history, as it did not have to make a final verdict and the case would be a model to stop disputes between state, private and civil sectors in future.