Government to Focus on Flood Prevention in Its Water Management Plan This Year

(15/02/2012)

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is on a five-day tour to inspect anti-flood operations and flood rehabilitation, stated that the Government would focus on flood prevention in its water management efforts this year. The inspection tour, scheduled for 13-17 February 2012, has taken the Prime Minister and her team to visit many provinces in upstream, middle-stream, and downstream provinces, from the northern to the central regions, that were hit by severe floods last year. The visit came after the Cabinet, during its meeting on 7 February 2012, had approved the setting up of a single command authority to manage the country’s water in an integrated manner. At the same meeting, the Cabinet also approved the formation of the National Water and Flood Policy Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, and the Water and Flood Management Committee, which will be responsible for working out action plans. To aid flood prevention this year, Prime Minister Yingluck stressed the need to look for two million rai, or 800,000 acres, of land to hold floodwater. In this regard, the authorities would have to reach out to local people in the areas that would be made into floodways. They must be well informed about the situation to ensure that they would be as little affected as possible. In the initial stage, the respective provincial governors will need to find places for the relocation of affected residents and provide them with compensation. The Prime Minister said that the Government would install a closed-circuit television system at various flood sluices to manage water drainage effectively. Moreover, she said, water gates would be repaired and embankments would be reinforced, while reforestation and construction of more weirs would be emphasized in the northern part of the country. The Prime Minister said that she had instructed all provincial governors to dredge canals and waterways and focus their attention on disaster warning and communication, so that people would have access to information for preparedness. She urged Thai people to unite in preparation for coping with possible floods this year. In 2010, the country faced about 16,000 million cubic meters of floodwater, but the amount rose to 20,000 million cubic meters in 2011. The Prime Minister pointed out that moral support should be given to one another to ease flood-related problems this year. Meanwhile, the World Bank will release an economic report on the Thai economy in April 2012, as Thailand suffered flood damage of 1.4 trillion baht in economic loss last year. The report says that the Government’s allocation of 2.2 trillion baht for investment in water management and infrastructure would help restore the confidence of investors and consumers.