THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Wissanu told to look into controversy on use of teak

Wissanu told to look into controversy on use of teak

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday assigned his deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam to set up a committee to look into the controversy of using teak in the construction of the new Parliament.

Prayut said he had not ordered that the plan be dropped, but wanted it to be held back until things are more clear, especially in terms of legal aspects and contracts with private entitites. 
Meanwhile, Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president, has decided to go ahead with the earlier plan of using 5,018 pieces of teakwood in building the new Parliament after the Forest Industry Organisation (FIO) confirmed that it can provide the wood. 
Pornpetch met concerned parties yesterday, including the designers, contractors Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc and project consultants. 
The NLA president said the company in charge of the design has insisted that teak is necessary because it exudes Thailand’s identity and uniqueness and also because it is part of the “Thai DNA”. 
The plan for using teakwood for the new Parliament building became controversial after FIO said it could not fell teak trees at a plantation in Chiang Mai’s Mae Hor Phra area as a community nearby also claimed rights over the plot. This is despite the fact that the plot was rented to the FIO. 
Since the FIO’s contract with the Royal Forest Department expired last year, it no longer has the right to stake a claim on the plot until the contract is renewed. 
PM Prayut later stepped in, instructing the Natural Resources and Environment Department to consider declaring the plot as part of a forest reserve so the teak trees can be freely felled. 
Pornpetch said he had spoken to the FIO, and it has confirmed that the teak required for the construction could be provided, though it did not say exactly where the wood would be taken from. 
However, he said the wood would come from trees planted by the FIO and not felled from natural forests. Pornpetch explained that the source of the wood should no longer be a problem, adding that the bigger problem is clearing the site and preparing it for construction. 
The NLA is also considering the contractor’s request to extend the construction period by 600 days. 
The teak controversy prompted reactions from different agencies, including the National Reform Steering Assembly’s public health and environment committee. Committee member and spokesman, Khwanchai Duangsathaporn, who is also head of Forestry Management Department of Kasetsart University’s Forestry Faculty, offered recommendations to settle the conflict. 
He said the Mae Hor Phra plot became a point of conflict partly due to the Royal Forest Department’s decision to use the land itself. The department had given the FIO permission to use the plot as a commercial forest 30 years ago, before it declared the area as a royal project, which allows local communities to also use the site. 
He suggested that the department makes a clear decision over the use of its forest reserves, and that only pristine forests be reserved as natural reserves. 
Secondly, he said, the FIO should not just be planting commercial forests, but also replant degraded forests and barren mountains, because it has the personnel, tools, experience and expertise in planting trees on large plots of land. 
Lastly, he said, the National Economic and Social Development Board should take up the responsibility of drawing up policies related to forest zoning as indicated in the master plan to tackle forest destruction problem, encroachment into state land and sustainable management of natural resources. The master plan was National Council for Peace and Order on August 1, 2014.
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