BANGKOK – The Royal Irrigation Department will spend more than 80 billion baht on many flood and water shortage prevention projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) areas.
Deputy Director-General of the Royal Irrigation Department Somkiat Prachamwong said the department has a plan to develop water sources for the EEC which covers four provinces including Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Rayong and Chanthaburi. Demand for water in these provinces has continuously increased due to expansion of the industrial and tourism sectors, Mr. Somkiat said.
In the urgent phase, the plan will tackle water shortage in some of the areas by improving a water pumping system of the Nong Pra Lai reservoir and storing 10 million more cubic meters of water in the Pra Sae reservoir each year. 710 million baht will be spent on these projects expected to start in 2018.
Furthermore, the capacity of six reservoirs will be increased so that they will store more water by 84 million cubic meters. Four new reservoirs will be constructed in the Wang Tanode basin under the budget of 2.49 billion baht.
As for flood prevention in three EEC provinces, the director-general said efficient floodgates and water pumping systems will be constructed this year.
