Residents from 4 Chonburi
districts protest the planned Phase 3 expansion of Laem Chabang port.
Officials have temporarily suspended the 120 billion baht expansion plan
after their angry neighbors threatened to shut down the harbor.
Phasakorn Channgam
Laem Chabang Port officials have temporarily
suspended a 120 billion baht expansion plan after angry neighbors
threatened to shut down the harbor.
Somnuk Jongmeewasin, a representative for residents
from four Chonburi districts opposed to the project to add a third pier
and new rail lines into Thailand’s main seaport, said June 28 that any
plans to begin construction have been put on hold until unresolved
issues surrounding the port’s earlier two phases of expansion are
resolved.
More than 300 Laem Chabang, Banglamung, Takientia and
Naklua residents marched from Prachum Khongkha to the port June 22 to
give their protest demand to port Director Chalermkiat Salukkum. The
protestors - led by Somnuk, Rongpoh Market vendor Raeway Shinawatra (no
relation to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra), Sangsan Somboon,
Rachanee Maalieng, Pojnarod Kaewphluk, and Chokkhana Upathum - demanded
the expansion be halted within a week.
If port officials didn’t comply, the protestors said
they would try to shut down the main intersection outside Laem Chabang
and continue civil disobedience actions until they got their way.
“In the past, the port would discuss with local
committees issues or consequences of the first two phases of the port
expansion,” Somnuk said. “But for Phase 3, the project was submitted to
the cabinet, taking a shortcut that is illegal and unjust and we must
make our stand.”
Faced with an embarrassing and expensive shutdown,
port officials agreed to an emergency meeting with Culture Minister
Sukumol Kunplome and group representatives June 28. Somnuk said the
group would wait until July 29 to publicly layout out its full reasons
for opposing the port plan.
During its Pattaya session last month, the cabinet
approved 30 billion baht in spending on the three-year project that will
add a 2 km wharf, twin rail tracks and widened roads around the harbor.
Opponents have opposed the expansion, saying it will only exacerbate
traffic and pollution problems while destroying fertile waters for area
fishermen.
