Sustainability project to be launched today

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that he would give details about the project during his visit to Bangkok’s western neighbouring province.
“I don’t want to call it the opening ceremony. Rather, I will meet with the people,” Prayut said.
He added that after this, members of the project’s different committees from the relevant ministries would start visiting the project areas. The project’s name can be literally translated as “sustainable Thai way”.
The PM said that a Thai Niyom website would be available to collect opinions from citizens on what they want the government to do. “This allows us to know about people’s needs. We want to know how bad the economy is in people’s views. We also will listen to people’s suffering regarding their daily lives,” Prayut said.
“The goal is to solve the problems correctly. The big data obtained will be used as a database for state agencies to analyse and solve the problems,” he added.
In the first stage of the project, the goal is to increase incomes for poorer people so they earn between Bt100,000 and Bt300,000 a year, according to the prime minister.
The project focuses on three areas – state welfare benefits for poor people, improving the country’s competitiveness, and agriculture, with each area requiring a budget of Bt100 billion, according to Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda,. He said farmers would be encouraged to grow crops that have market demand.
Anupong said local authorities have been prepared for the start of the project, which would be implemented based on local residents’ needs, in a transparent way.
He said that the government was not concerned that the project might get a poor response from local residents. “We are confident that the project will continue well,” Anupong said. “We have no worries because we are not doing anything bad. It’s bad people who have to be worried,” he said.