Phasakorn Channgam
The Royal Irrigation Department may cancel plans to expand the Mapwaisom
Reservoir in Khao Maikaew in the face of protests from displaced
residents.
Residents
representative Kanoksak Nimanong tells Irrigation Department
Construction Office officials there is no need to kick them out of their
homes.
Neighbors complained at a Sept. 13 hearing that project is not only
unnecessary, but that the government has low-balled compensation
payments to be given to residents who would have to move to accommodate
the 1,200 rai of digging.
Residents representative Kanoksak Nimanong told Irrigation Department
Construction Office official Anuwat Buajan that the expansion wouldn’t
be necessary if the government moves forward with the 30 million baht
project to deepen the much-larger Mabprachan Reservoir.
“Mabprachan has never been used to its fullest capacity and now the
government wants to dig the reservoir deeper to increase its capacity,”
Kanoksak said. “This is not a beneficial project and funds will be spent
for no reason.”
Furthermore, Kanoksak added, the government has only offered
50,000-260,000 baht per rai to displaced residents while those living
and owning businesses on the land believe their land and improvements to
it are worth 1 million baht per rai.
At the hearing, Anuwat attempted to convince the approximately 150
residents attending that expansion of Mabprachan, Mapwaisom and nearby
Huay Khainow reservoirs were all needed to satisfy the demands of
Pattaya’s hotels, businesses and residents for hard water.
“No matter how much digging is done, there is never enough water to fill
the tank,” Anuwat said. “This will help solve water scarcity issues.”
The 100 residents who likely would be displaced by the project appeared
unconcerned about the needs of Pattaya tourists in the face of losing
their homes and business and Irrigation Department officials dejectedly
said they’d inform their superiors of the opposition with a
recommendation to cancel the project.
The fate of the Huay Khainow project remains to be determined.
