Inequitable govt aid to Northeast amounts to ‘crumbs’

I noted with interest in your article that the government is considering spending Bt1 billion on irrigation projects to solve flooding and drought issues in three northeastern provinces that have long suffered from poor irrigation and flood prevention. 
To put this sum in context, it is worth comparing with the billion baht spent on a housing project for judges in a national park that will now, in all likelihood, have to be demolished. 
A World Bank report a few years ago pointed out that Thailand’s Northeast only received a 5.8-per-cent share of public expenditure, while contributing 11.5 per cent of GDP and being home to 34 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, Bangkok consumed the lion’s share of public expenditure, far out of proportion to its share of GDP and population. 
In order to help the Northeast catch up economically with the rest of the country, Thailand needs to address this imbalance of public expenditure urgently, rather than just offer some token projects to three provinces only ahead of elections. 
Otherwise, your caption,” Billions for seats” should more fittingly be, “Crumbs for votes”. How about some luxury housing projects at taxpayer expense for northeastern farmers for starters?
George Morgan