The Wastewater Management Authority (WMA) plans to use the multi-billion baht, abandoned and corruption-plagued Khlong Dan wastewater treatment facility in Samut Prakan province to treat effluent from the local community, a task requiring only 4% of its original industrial waste capacity.
Acting WMA director-general Hatairat Likit-anupak said on Thursday that the people of tambon Khlong Dan in Samut Prakan's Bang Bo district had made it clear they wanted the facility to treat their wastewater, but not to treat industrial wastewater from factories elsewhere as originally planned.
That would mean the treatment of 20,000 cubic metres of wastewater a day, instead of 500,000 cubic metres as originally planned, she said.
Local residents also wanted the 1,900 rai area developed as an ecosystem-learning centre, freshwater aquatic breeding centre and eco-tourism destination to enable them to generate income, Mrs Hatairat said.
The study by the WMA, an organisation under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, also concluded that only 15% of the buildings at the facility remained usable. That included the cement ponds, but all the pipelines were unusable because they had not been maintained for over a decade.
The 24-billion-baht wastewater treatment project was halted in 2003 when it was almost completed when it was found to be riddled with corruption. Investigators found the land was illegally acquired by a leading government politician who sold it to the state at a huge profit.
The contractor, NVPSKG joint venture, demanded about 10 billion baht in compensation for the stoppage but authorities cited corruption as a reason to withhold payment and in July this year moved to seize assets involved in the project's construction.