ITD project seen causing health, environment hit
Civil society and academics have called on the
government and contractor Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) to review
the Dawei deep-sea port plan and listen to the views of residents who
stand to be affected.
While the development is in Myanmar, Thais will also be affected by
proposed highways to be built to link Dawei to Thailand by road.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is to lead her economic ministers
on a visit to Myanmar on Sept 19-21 to follow up on progress in Dawei
since leaders of the two countries agreed last month in Bangkok to clear
any obstacles to the multi-billion-baht project.
Pojanee Artarotpinyo, director of the National Economic and Social
Development Board's spatial development planning and strategy office,
said the Council of State has yet to complete a draft bill on a special
economic zone in Kanchanaburi to accommodate the development of the
Dawei project.
Ms Pojanee added that the Finance Ministry is looking at ways to help
ease the financial burden ITD faces with the massive venture.
"Since the Thai government has already pledged strong support for the
project, all agencies are now coordinating closely with their Myanmar
counterparts to finalise the project," Ms Pojanee said.
Speaking at a recent seminar titled "Thai-Myanmar Relations: From Map
Ta Phut to Dawei", organised by Mahidol University's faculty of
environment and resource studies, she said issues the two governments
have continued to negotiate include the project's specific location,
features or characteristics and financing models.
She said the Dawei project should consider lessons learned from
Thailand's Eastern Seaboard industrial area development, including those
relating to environmental and health problems.
Somsak Boonpratanporn, head of the Highways Department's assessment
working group for Dawei, said the department has two Dawei-related
highway projects to develop.
The first is the 98km Bang Yai (Nonthaburi)-Nakhon
Pathom-Kanchanaburi highway that will help connect Dawei to the GMS
Southern Corridor, which runs from the western border of Thailand to the
eastern coast of Vietnam.
The highway will cost 45.88 billion baht, of which 4.85 billion baht is set aside for land expropriation.
This motorway could link to another 70km highway, which is currently
undergoing a feasibility study, from Kanchanaburi to Ban Phu Nam Ron,
the border village in Ratchaburi province, to connect with the 160km
Dawei-Ban Phu Nam Ron highway being developed by ITD.
Veerawat Dheeraprasart, chairman of the Foundation for Ecological
Recovery, said post-Dawei development problems would be 10 times more
serious than those seen in the Map Ta Phut industrial area and Laem
Chabang deep-sea port.
He added that the lack of efficient environmental and health
regulation enforcement in Myanmar put the communities around Dawei at
risk of being compromised in the name of foreign investment.
"The ITD-developed project has yet to take into account core
principles mentioned in the Asean Charter, including respect for human
rights, cultural identity and diversity and sustainable development and
environmental conservation goals," Mr Veerawat said.
He also called for the Highways Department to conduct a new environmental impact assessment on the planned motorways.
He urged both the Thai and Myanmar governments to review the project
to show that the two Asean members are concerned not only with the
economic benefits but also want to look after the socio-cultural front.
Khanat Kruthkul, a doctor at Ramathibodi Hospital, said there should
be a serious study into the potential health and social impacts of freer
cross-border movement, industrialisation and environmental depletion.
The consumerism that inevitably emerges from industrialisation would change local people's way of life, Dr Khanat said.
People could grow fatter as they become more wealthy, he said, while
communicable diseases and parasites would become more resistant to
medication.
Suphakit Nuntavorakarn, a researcher from the Healthy Public Policy
Foundation, said Thai civil society organisations do not oppose
development. They merely want to see the promotion of industries that
best match the environmental and cultural characteristics of the Dawei
region as well as Kanchanaburi, he said.
"Myanmar's greenhouse gas emissions will increase by five times after the Dawei project is complete," Mr Suphakit said.
He said water consumption would be greater at 5.9 million cubic
metres a day, with more waste water, industrial waste and household and
industrial garbage.
"Therefore, the investing company needs to look at the overall
picture as there will be an enormous impact on the people and the
environment on both sides of the border," he said.
LINK:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/309643/academics-call-for-dawei-port-plan-rethink
