National Village and Urban
Community Fun Director Thonnachai Bunmak.
Warunya Thongrod
Pattaya-area villages may get up to 500,000 baht to become
semi-independent under a National Village and Urban Community Fund program.
Fund Director Thonnachai Bunmak met with representatives from 36 Pattaya
communities and bureaucrats from the city Social Welfare Department Oct. 18 to
outline the program’s rules and answer questions.
The NVUC plans in November to begin awarding funds to villages nationwide aimed
at establishing mechanisms allowing communities to have roles in directly
fighting poverty, developing an economic foundation to generate revenue for the
village and offer career training.
Under the program, villages are categorized as small, medium or large, with
small villages of 500 people or less receiving 100,000 to 300,000 baht per
project; medium-sized villages of 501-1,000 residents getting 400,000 baht and
larger villages getting 500,000 baht per project. Each village can apply for
funding of more than one project.
The project has been in the works for more than a year and a similar meeting in
Pattaya a year ago created controversy when no NVUC representative attended.
This year, Thonnachai said, residents should now understand the rules and hopes
to start approving projects and disbursing funds in November.
To date, three small, eight medium and 25 large projects have been applied for
in Pattaya.
