The Thai government and contractor Italian-Thai
Development should revise their plan for the Dawei port and industrial
complex in Myanmar to reflect the impact on residents of both countries,
say academics.
The Dawei megaproject, they say, will affect people in Myanmar as
well as Thai people along the route of a 328-kilometre highway to Dawei
from the Laem Chabang and Map Ta Phut industrial zones via Kanchanaburi
province.
The Council of State, the government's legal adviser,
is still studying a proposed bill to create a special economic zone in
Kanchanaburi, said Pojanee Artarotpinyo, director of the Spatial
Development Planning and Strategy Office of the National Economic and
Social Development Board (NESDB).
As well, she said, the Finance
Ministry is looking at ways to help ease the financial burden ITD is
facing with the Dawei venture.
The SET-listed contractor has been
struggling to raise funds for the project amid concerns that Myanmar's
new reformist government appears less enthusiastic about Dawei than the
former military junta that awarded the concession to ITD.
"Whether
the Thai company is involved or not, (deep sea port) development will
be created anyway, so we should help support the Thai venture," said Ms
Pojanee.
"And since the government has already pledged strong
support to the project, all agencies are now coordinating closely with
their Myanmar counterparts to concretise and finalise the project."
She
made the comments on Friday at a seminar on "Thai-Myanmar relations:
From Map Ta Phut to Dawei" at Mahidol University's Faculty of
Environment and Resource Studies. It was the second time Thai civil
society groups had gathered to discuss the issue; the last time was in
late July in Chiang Mai. No business representatives attended either
session.
Issues that the two governments had to renegotiate
included project sites, features or characteristics, and financing
methods, said Ms Pojanee.
In any case, she added, the promoters
of Dawei should consider all the lessons learned from the Eastern
Seaboard development in Thailand, including environmental and health
problems.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will visit Myanmar
again next month to follow up progress on Dawei, after the leaders of
the two countries agreed last month in Bangkok that obstacles would be
cleared to facilitate the multi-billion baht project.
A highway
from Bang Yai in Nonthaburi via Nakhon Pathom and Kanchanaburi would
help connect the Dawei port to the Greater Mekong Sub-region Southern
Corridor, said Somsak Boonpratanporn, director of the assessment work
group at the Highways Department.
The 98-kilometre tollway would
cost 45.9 billion baht, said Mr Somsak, adding that compensation for the
acquired land would cost 4.85 billion.
The motorway would be
linked to the 70km Kanchanaburi-Ban Phu Nam Ron (Ratchaburi) route, now
under feasibility study. Design work has been completed on the final
160km route from Ban Phu Nam Ron to Dawei, said Mr Somsak.
Veerawat
Dheeraprasart, chairman of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery,
warned that the post-development problems at Dawei could be 10 times
serious than what Map Ta Phut and Laem Chabang experienced.
The
reason, he said, was that environmental and health regulations in
Myanmar were very weak, so the rights and benefits of the Dawei
communities would be compromised in the name of foreign investment.
"The
ITD-initiated 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," said Mr Veerawat.
He also called for the Highway Department to conduct a new environmental assessment of the planned motorway.
Dr
Khanat Kruthkul of Ramathibodi Hospital said there should be a serious
study of the potential health and social impacts that would accompany
freer cross-border movement, industrialisation and environmental
depletion.
Consumerism that inevitably emerges from
industrialisation would change people's way of life, said Dr Khanat.
They would become fatter, while communicable diseases such as malaria
would become more resistant to medication, while viruses and parasites
would also adapt and be difficult to deal with.
Suphakit
Nuntavorakarn of the Healthy Public Policy Foundation said Thai civil
society organisations did not oppose development. However, they want to
see industries that best match the environmental and cultural
characteristics of the Dawei region as well as Kanchanaburi.
For
example, he said, there could be high impact from heavy and frequent
loads of chemical substances and other materials being transported along
the highway.
"Based on the initial form of investment, Myanmar's
emissions of greenhouse gases will increase five times after the Dawei
project's completion," he said.
Mr Suphakit said water
consumption would be greater at 5.9 million cubic metres per day, with
more waste water, industrial wastes and accumulated household and
industrial garbage.
"Therefore, the investing company cannot
simply do separate environmental impact assessments but needs to look at
the overall picture as there is enormous impact on the people and the
environment on both sides of the border," he said.
Links : http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/309222/academics-revise-dawei-plan
Bo
Bo Aung of the Dawei Development Association, which has spoken out for
residents in land disputes and met with officials backing the Dawei
project, called on the governments to provide details of the three
memorandums of understanding signed on Monday to reaffirm their economic
cooperation on the huge energy and industrial project.