Bang Chan Industrial Estate faces flood risk
Bang Chan Industrial Estate in the eastern
Bangkok suburban district is in more danger of flooding after angry
protesters forced the government to open wider a sluice gate in Klong
Sam Wa to allow more water to flow from their inundated commuunities.
About 500 people block Nimitmai Road in Khlong Sam Wa district to
demand the Khlong Sam Wa sluice gate be opened wider, from 70cm to 1.5m.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration eventually agreed to open the
sluice gate by 80cm. TAWEECHAI TAWATPAKORN
The overflow from northen runoff will threaten the industrial estate
located in Min Buri district now that the gate has been opened wider.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters on Monday she had
decided to order the city administration to lift the sluice gate at
Klong Sam Wa wider to one metre after the protesters' actions.
Residents of flood-hit Bang Len district in Nakhon Pathom have been warned to evacuate within 48 hours. An evacuation centre at Kasetsart University's Kamphaeng Saen campus has been opened, although the university's main campus on Vibhavadi Rangist Road has closed due to flooding.
About 1,000 residents living along Khlong 3 and Khlong 4 rallied at the
sluice gate on Sunday night to demand authorities open the gate more,
reasoning that the narrow opening had caused serious flooding in their
comminities.
After a brief rally during the day, the same group of residents
returned to the gate late Sunday night to remove sand bags in the flood
wall at the dyke. Some used sledge hammers to try to demolish the gate.
They dispersed after local officials agreed to lift the gate to 80
centimetres.
Trouble escalated again yesterday when the residents returned to the
gate, blockaded a road near Hathainimit-Wat Sukjai intersection and
demanded the gate be opened further to 1.45-1.5 metres.
Some of the protesters formed a human chain and tried to break
through block lines of riot police before Wicharn Meechainant, Pheu Thai
MP for Min Buri, was called in to mediate the conflict.
The MP failed to convince the protesters to accept to the government's plea to keep the gate as it was.
Deputy Bangkok governor Thirachon Manomaipibul, said Ms Yingluck had
ordered the BMA's Department of Drainage and Sewerage to widen the gate
to one metre.
Bang Chan Industrial Estate, with more than 200 billion baht worth of
investment, is one of the few industrial estates still unaffected by
flooding.
Mr Thirachon said he had advised the government that widening the
sluice gate would not only affect Bang Chan but also communities along
Saen Saeb canal in Saphan Sung, Bang Kapi and Bungkum.
An interprovincial bus is partly submerged near a bus terminal on Boromratchonnanee Road. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra shared Mr Thirachon's view.
"Without a written order, I will not do it no matter how much the
pressure," he said.
Anond Snidwongs, an academic on the water draining committee of the
Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc), said the agency was concerned
factories and low lying areas in Bang Kapi might be hit.
The government has tried to maintain the water level in Saen Saeb
canal near Bang Chan Industrial Estate at no more than one metre above
mean sea level, and up to 0.25 metres above mean sea level in the Bang
Kapi area.
Froc will have to try to control the water level in those areas by
regulating the water flow at Khlong 8 and Khlong 9, so that run off from
Khlong Sam Wa does not affect residents along the canal, Mr Anond said.
The Democrat Party yesterday urged the government to invoke a special
law to deal with locals who try to disrupt the government's water
drainage efforts to protect their own communities.
A man fits a small camera atop a pole as a measure against theft around the area where he sells spirit houses in Taling Chan district. Many areas of the district are under water. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said the party wanted to see the government take two key actions.
First, in areas that are not yet seriously flooded, the government
should invoke a special law to manage conflicts between government
officers trying to manage floodwater and locals who want to protect
their communities from rising flood levels through intimidation.
After the government turned down the opposition's suggestion to
invoke the emergency decree, it should instead invoke another law to
keep residents from interrupting government flood drainage operations.
Second, in flooded areas, the government should ease the chaos that has ensued while evacuating flood victims.
For example in Bangkok's Bang Plad district, people had to struggle
to get out of flooded areas themselves. No government officers were on
hand to provide assistance to flood victims. Only soldiers were seen
helping flood victims evacuate, said Mr Chavanond.
The government should also take earnest actions to solve the shortage
of food, drinking water, public utilities, as well as the problem of
inflated commodity prices.
Students paddle past the flooded ground floor of buildings at Kasetsart University in Bang Khen district yesterday. THITI WANNAMONTHA
"Right now the government has overlooked people's difficulties. They
view it as something less significant than seeking a loan of more than
800-billion-baht to build up a new Thailand even though half of the
country is still under water," Mr Chavanond said.
He also criticised the government for stockpiling donated goods at
Don Mueang Airport and abandoning them there when floodwater flowed into
the ground floor of the airport compound.
Meanwhile, Froc dissolved a committee overseeing flood drainage work
chaired by Uthen Chartpinyo, a Pheu Thai MP, saying that the panel's
work overlapped with the committee of water management in disaster areas
chaired by Veera Wongsaengnak, a former deputy chief of the irrigation
department.
A Froc source said the dissolution was in line with a request by
executives at three industrial estates in eastern Bangkok _ Lat Krabang,
Bang Chan and Suwintawong _ because the Uthane panel wanted to drain
floodwater through the areas where the industrial estates are located.
Vendors try to keep their feet dry and carry on their trade as usual
along the flooded Maha Rat and Phra Chan roads. WISIT THAMNGERN
Rows of sandbags are placed to keep water from the Khlong Prapa canal from flowing into Pracha Chuen Road. THITI WANNAMONTHA
Metropolitan Waterworks Authority officials have made a hole in a
concrete barrier to release water into Khlong Bang Khen near Phetcharat
School in Chatuchak district. THITI WANNAMONTHA
Vehicles push their way slowly through floods near the Phong Phet intersection along Khlong Prapa yesterday. THITI WANNAMONTHA
Source: Bangkok Post
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