The government's 10-year water management blueprint has come under fire from the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) and academics who say it focuses on projects and budget spending, not on people's needs and policy priorities.
An EIT subcommittee on water resources, which serves as an adviser to a working panel appointed to draw up the blueprint, also said the plan — expected to be submitted to the cabinet for consideration next week — does not have its endorsement.
Criticism of the blueprint, known as the strategic water management plan, has intensified since Commerce Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya, who chairs the Water Management and Policy Committee, and the Royal Irrigation Department said on Wednesday the draft plan was close to completion.
According to the EIT subcommittee, the blueprint in question is far from being a strategic plan.
The draft blueprint that was unveiled in September-October last year was inconsistent with the agreed framework and showed a lack of understanding about how to formulate a strategic plan, the sub-panel said.
It focused on projects and budget spending and failed to take into account public input which was gathered from public hearings last year.
The subcommittee said it wrote to the working panel asking to revise the blueprint but was ignored.
A strategic plan must be drawn up by all stakeholders, not just one committee, Bancha Kwanyuen, chairman of the EIT's water resources subcommittee, said yesterday.
He said without a strategic plan to prioritise public needs and set up a framework for solving policy problems, it is impossible to draw up a master-plan. And without a master-plan, it is not possible to draw up projects to be implemented.
Pramote Maiklat, a Chatchai committee adviser, said yesterday the draft blueprint is not a strategic plan. It is about outlining projects and budget spending.
He expressed concern that if the blueprint is approved by the cabinet, it is likely to lead to protests and create social conflicts.
Suwattana Jittaladakorn, another Chatchai committee adviser, yesterday demanded to know where the 900-billion-baht overall spending figure came from. The estimated figure only served to indicate that projects may have been designed before the blueprint was ready, he said.
When a strategic plan lacks public input, it is likely to suffer the same fate as the Yingluck Shinawatra administration's 350-billion-baht water plan, he said. The Central Administrative Court had ordered the Yingluck government to conduct public hearings before proceeding with the projects.
Mr Suwattana said he was denied access to the details of the 10-year water management plan and told the information was classified. He called for a delay on schemes that may cause long-term financial burdens for the country.
EIT academic Sitang Pilaila said yesterday if the blueprint is announced in February as expected, it will not receive endorsement from the EIT's subcommittee on water resources.