Bangkok can't really seem to get over having had in days long past the nickname of "The Venice of the East". Last week, some state agencies said they had the lofty goal of reclaiming this moniker by developing or reviving several waterways.
Two years ago, the prime minister also raised the idea of re-making Bangkok as "The Venice of the East". To achieve the PM's dream, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) took steps to boost boat transport on the canal network. It first introduced a boat shuttle service on Klong Phadung Krung Kasem in September 2016.
Then the prime minister took some high-profile boat trips, appearing to give the stamp of approval for the BMA to push forward with its "seamless" connectivity plans between bus, train and boat systems for Bangkok commuters.
Probably as part of a plan to please the prime minister, the BMA launched a project to revive five canals -- two on the Bangkok side, including Klong Ong Ang, and the rest on the Thon Buri side, totalling 15km with a budget of 473 million baht.
The move is almost a noble one, giving the fact that the city is actually lower than its mean sea level location and continuing to sink. But the main problem is that the state is doing it to please tourists, not residents.
Moreover, I doubt if e really want to copy Venice. Do those who dream of Bangkok being like the Italian city realise how hard tourism has hit Venetians?
Venice just suffered its worst flooding last month. Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square), its must-see attraction, now floods up to 60 times a year, up from four times a year in 1900. And the city's water level has risen 156cm above normal.
About 635,000 people live in Venice, but only about 270,000 are permanent residents. Like many tourist destination cities, Venetians, who have become increasingly frustrated with mass tourism, have been forced to move out because of the rising cost of living and the mass influx of tourists. Venice attracts about 20 million tourists a year.
And even if the BMA wants to proceed with its Venice-like ambitions, its efforts will be futile given a lack of city planning, allowing uncontrolled urban sprawl, and a dearth of policy direction with regard to old-town preservation.
We know that tourism is a major growth engine. But what do locals want?
Last year, Thammasat University worked with communities along Klong Lat Phrao on a project called "The Development of Community-owned Canal Transit System, Boat Piers and Vicinity", to set up a public boat service.
The project aimed to provide an alternative commute for low- and middle-income earners living in 50 communities along the canal. Over the past decades, people these communities have depended largely on buses or motorcycles. The university has proposed the project to the BMA.
But under the new plan, Jumras Klinaubon, leader of Lat Phrao community 45, now realises the community's three boats are there to serve tourism purposes, and are not for public transport, even though the 22.5km-route can be linked with the Green Line's Saphan Sung station. The BMA said there are not yet enough permanent piers along the canal for a public service even though large parts of communities along Klong Lat Phrao have been cleareed.
According to Assoc Prof Pawinee Iamtrakul who led the project, it's possible to improve the existing piers used by locals with an approximate budget of 200,000 baht a pier. Some believe it was bureaucratic red tape that caused the project's budget delay. But Bangkok residents will have just to swallow the hard truth that foreign tourists come first.
The capital's 15 million residents will simply have to wait until the tourists (21.5 million of whom who stayed at least one night in 2016, according to Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index) reap the rewards of all the convenience.
Meanwhile, Bangkok achieves new highs (for the number of hours that the city is paralysed by floods) every rainy season. Our city is sinking ever faster as more skyscrapers go up but porous ground area decreases. City folk have to put up with developments designed specifically for tourism, not them. With the spiralling cost of living and accommodation, residents are being pushed out further to the city's outskirts, leaving expats and those who, by sheer good fortune, share the tourism infrastructure and can use the bus-train-boat connections.
Everyone knows our goal of becoming another Venice is a pipe dream. Only with floods can we match, if not beat, the Italian city.