Flood projects need scrutiny

EDITORIAL

Published: 7 Mar 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The pain caused by the 2011 floods represented a rough wake-up call that something must be done to prevent a repeat of a similar disaster. Hence, the 350-billion-baht flood prevention and drought mitigation megaproject was hastily drawn up by the government and an executive decree enacted to enable the Finance Ministry to secure loans to fund the project without the trouble of going through parliamentary scrutiny as should have been the case.

Although Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has said the mega-infrastructure project is transparent and it will be implemented as such, the reality is that the project has lacked transparency from day one.

Firstly, consider the executive decree to secure funding for the project within the set deadline of June 30. Why was the decree needed? The widely held suspicion is that this short-cut legal approach is intended to block the opposition's scrutiny that could possibly expose shortcomings or loopholes, leaving the public in the dark about the project details.

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facts_only
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Discussion 9 : 08 Mar 2013 at 00.599
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"The Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) and the BMA are locked in a dispute over the placement of sandbags in the city's drains...Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand...insisted the sandbags had not blocked waterflow in the drains and that the technique has long been part of the BMA's flood prevention measures." Bangkokpost, 10 Oct 2012

Were these sandbags in the drains during the 2011 floods?
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dao
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Discussion 8 : 07 Mar 2013 at 23.138
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It would be nice if they were scrutinized .
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ianprince
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Discussion 7 : 07 Mar 2013 at 18.367
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The wall around Don Muang airport is a big waste of money.
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englishbob
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Discussion 6 : 07 Mar 2013 at 18.146
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But they won an election... So all your arguments (plus morals, ethics, common sense and integrity) are invalid.
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benno
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Discussion 5 : 07 Mar 2013 at 16.315
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Still waiting for the main road (chiang mai--bbk) in tak + kamphaeng phet to be repaired...unbelievable, that a main north to south road is in such bad shape...but yhen again. security is not inportend in thailand.
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upena
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Discussion 4 : 07 Mar 2013 at 09.594
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Still waiting for the promised road repair in Isaan
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Ian
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Discussion 3 : 07 Mar 2013 at 09.093
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Corruption is an integral component of the business ethic in Thailand, it is no secret, hence western companies stay clear and only those of nations with similar ethics get involved.
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Victor
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Discussion 2 : 07 Mar 2013 at 08.162
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Even for a project involving astronomical amount of budget such as this it still come down to the usual percentage being practiced in every ordinary project in Thailand. And asking them to scritinize themselves is a waste of time.
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whatajoke
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Discussion 1 : 07 Mar 2013 at 07.341
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The government ought to be spending billions on a mega ethical infrastructure and competency management plan, since the last flood was quite avoidable with the tools available. It was down to some poor decision-making and politically motivated interference (don't release water from the dams, we will need it for the winter rice crop we've promised them!), that amplified the disaster. It might be useful to look at the flooding not from a disaster perspective but a 'create a massive corruption spending opportunity' point of view.
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Flood projects need scrutiny | Bangkok Post: opinion