Editor:
Finally, three and a half years in the making they are getting close to finishing the project of placing drains and repaving the surface of Soi Siam Country Club Road. This project has overwhelmed the Nongprue Municipality since it wasn’t as simple as just placing the drains into the ground. For decades they allowed the water to run down from Soi 22 and the water settled down at the bottom of Soi 13 flooding the whole area. After a while the water created its own river below the road surface so when they dug into the road to lay the cement drains it was no surprise to anyone but the municipality.
Today there is still water running under the new road. What they did was dig deep and build cement channels to divert the water, cover and pack with sand, laid the drains and poured the cement for the new roads.
During the process they have put hundred out of business, devalued properties, raised and lowered the new road at certain points which causes businesses and property owners to spend thousands of baht to match the new surface height.
Just the other day many officials were parked and standing around, watching the workers paint lines on the road with what seems to be smiles. In my opinion they should be ashamed and embarrassed!
In spite of all the road work, does anyone wonder if all that rain water is being saved? Is there a dam or reservoir? The answer is no, the water in the drains is diverted. Whenever there is a large empty plot of land they place and extend the PVC pipes and drain the water under and into the empty parcel of land. They have done this just after the electric station past Soi 9, heading towards the Wanasin Market. The excess water is already floating to the surface and they are pumping water out creating a pond next to the market. One can see PVC pipes leading into a pond that is in front of the cemetery and across from the Eastiny Market and fuel station.
Finally, the traffic can flow again and drivers can once again speed up and down from Sukhumvit to kill themselves since the road is now so wide and smooth. The road looks great but the problem of the rain water is still around, it is just pushed to another location?
Congratulations, it took longer to finish than the tunnel on Sukhumvit. Should have gotten them to do the job?
Darkside Jeff Chumuchi
