The piece on the Thai-Belgian Friendship overpass, ''Bridge over troubled roads'', in yesterday's Bangkok Post was fascinating. Who could ever imagine that a major highway fly-over could be assembled in just 19 hours? Those responsible deserve great accolades, even today, 25 years after this impressive feat.
At the same time, residents and taxpayers of Bangkok should be asking their elected officials and responsible civil servants why it now takes months, or even years, to complete similar overpasses today. Why couldn't all the components of such structures be fabricated off-site and reassembled at the specified installation sites in one or two days, in a similar manner to the Thai-Belgian Friendship Bridge?
Surely, the civil engineering expertise exists. So, why are Bangkok commuters subjected to months and months of construction gridlock as fly-overs are constructed in-place instead of being fabricated off-site and re-assembled overnight when needed?
I am not an engineer, so I'm well aware that there may be obstacles to using this option today, but as a long-time sufferer of Bangkok gridlock, I would like to know what they are and if they can be overcome.
Samanea Saman
HUGO'S POPULISM UNSUSTAINABLE
Keen political observers will do well to read a variety of the recent obituaries of Hugo Chavez. Some are teary-eyed laments to a champion of the poor, others unflatteringly describe a controversial figure bent on power, responsible for wasting petro-dollars and wrecking Venezuela's economy. Ironically jailed for a coup attempt, he then cornered the market on the masses of poor voters to help himself to a populist democratic stranglehold in a corrupt and unequal society. Sound familiar?
Chavez certainly did make a difference to the lives of the poor, but his unchecked tenure was epitomised by a suicidal economic policy haphazardly implemented, muzzling of the press, bullying of the opposition and the creation of a populace dependent on handouts. He was both passionately loved and hated for what he accomplished. Thailand and Venezuela aren't completely comparable, but we can learn a lesson that robbing the treasury to beguile the poor is an unsustainable model for democracy.
Senor George
TO FIX TRAFFIC, SHUT IT DOWN
Re Roger Crutchley's entertaining ''Postscript'' column last week, ''And now a good hand for the losers'', he mentioned one losing candidate in a past Bangkok governor's race, a Mr Smith, who suggested that all traffic lights remain green all the time. That's not a bad idea, but I think I have abetter one: Do away with all traffic lights and let the city go back to the 80s and 90s of total gridlock. With traffic at a standstill, the accident rate would reduce to near zero, and maybe, just maybe, people would learn to leave their cars at home and take the skytrain.
But that's all just wishful thinking, of course.
Charlie Brown
Pattaya
WALKING UNDER THE WIRES
Thank you for publishing the picture in last Sunday's ''1000 Words'' of the shocking electric cable mess along a Bangkok street. It exemplifies the common cable craziness which is spread out almost everywhere along and across urban roads and boulevards. It seems that the cable guys enjoy total air supremacy over public space. And nobody seems to raise any objection. The Thai cable engineers don't care for the beauty of tree-lined boulevards, or the aesthetics of historical or modern architecture. The tangle of cables downgrades whole Thai towns to resemble industrial estates.
Frieder von Sass
SAY NO TO SHARK FIN
The headline in a Friday Bangkok Post story ''Shark protection deal passes'' was welcome. I have avoided shark fin soup since learning that 73 million sharks are killed annually to supply this delicacy. Since the fin is more valuable than the rest of the shark, fishermen slice the fins off and push the still-writhing shark back into the sea to die. As a result the oceans are now depleted of a key ecosystem predator. The possession and distribution of shark fins has been banned in many places in the West. Western states in America, Toronto and New York have now banned the fins.
I have moved from shark's fin to fish maw soup, which is strangely enough just as delicious although it has less show-off value.
Songdej Praditsmanont
Bangkok
SIGN SEA PROTECTION TREATY
In his letter printed in Friday's ''PostBag'', ''Plastic not so fantastic'', Ken Albertson brings up a very good point about the Marpol Treaty dedicated to eliminating garbage dumped at sea and Thailand's reluctance to become a signatory. Stopping the spread of plastics in the ocean is one of the key objectives in the treaty, but it goes much further. The treaty requires that countries must provide marine facilities to handle all kinds of waste from any ship such as oily ballast water and other waste oils. These facilities would need large storage tanks, treatment and disposal facilities. No one in Thailand seems to want to get involved with such a venture, least of all the government, even though it could be profitable if done correctly. The big waste management companies in the US are proof of this. There are many other sources of waste oils in Thailand that could be processed and re-sold.
It seems to me there must be a hidden agenda preventing Thailand from joining Marpol, and not just ignorance nor apathy.
Stan Zydel
Bangkok
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