The committee in charge of assessing the environmental and health impacts of the proposed Mae Wong dam project has recommended that the controversial Nakhon Sawan province project be dropped.
Panel chairman Kasemsant Jinnowaso, secretary-general of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning said Friday that the Department of National Parks, Wild-life and Plant Conservation (DNP), which oversees the Mae Wong National Park land where the dam would be built, has opposed the project.
Environmentalist Sasin Chalermlarp has been camping outside the Ofice of the National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) since early this week to protest against the dam. (ฺBangkok Post file photo)
As a result, the environmental and health-impact assessment panel resolved Thursday to support the department's decision. The committee will forward its recommendation to the National Environmental Board, which will make the final decision on whether to proceed with the dam.
If the Royal Irrigation Department, which proposed the dam project, has any new information regarding the project, it can resubmit its proposal to the panel for reconsideration, Mr Kasemsant said.
In a recent statement, DNP chief Nipon Chotiban opposed construction of the dam, claiming some 12,200 rai in the dam-construction zone was recovering fertile forestland. The dam would affect the ecological system of the watershed forest, which is rare in the country, he said.
Mr Nipon said the DNP disagreed with the construction of the dam in the forest-conservation areas and suggested that authorities look for water-management alternatives that would not cause the loss of vast forest areas.
Environmentalist Sasin Chalermlarp on Friday welcomed the panel's conclusion on the project.
Mr Sasin, secretary-general of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, earlier had camped for days outside the Office of the National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, where the panel met Thursday.
Mae Wong National Park comprises nearly 900 sq km of pristine forest land in Nakhon Sawan. The park is part of Southeast Asia's largest remaining forest tract, known as the Western Forest Complex, home to Thailand's first Natural World Heritage Site, the Thung Yai-Huay Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuaries.