Highways Department officials have suspended the felling of precious trees, most of them teak, along Highway No 2 in Nan province after complaints from residents and environmentalists.
Nan Highway No 2 director Pracharn Malithong said yesterday discussions would be held with the protesters before any further work is done on clearing about one kilometre of Nan-Thawangpa Road.
He said complaints about the felling had flooded in from environmentalists, civic groups and students. They were invited to meet and speak with officials tomorrow.
Mr Pracharn said some trees still must be cut down while others would be removed. Department engineers had inspected the area again and decided the road expansion would continue on one side of a tunnel of trees to avoid too much felling, he said.
“Some trees will have to be cut down, especially in areas where it cannot be avoided,” he said.
Mr Prachan said a public hearing on the project was held in November 2013 and at the time more than 90% of the people in the area agreed with the expansion.
The project involves expanding the two-lane road’s width from nine metres to 12 metres along the 80km from Nan Muang district to Ban Huay Kon in Chalermphrakiat district, near the border with Laos.
About 1,000 trees have been cleared from the route. The protests, Mr Prachan said, mostly involve the tunnel of trees.
Residents and civic groups in Nan last month launched a “love the trees” campaign in the belief it would sway the department and stop the felling, even though the road project is aimed at economic growth for the province.
Students and artists drew hearts on the trees and posted the campaign on the “Big Trees Project” Facebook page.
Project co-founder Anunta Intra-aksorn said there was a lot of love for the trees that were due to be destroyed.
The tree campaign began after a Nan resident posted a petition on www.change.org.