At last, a compromise has been reached on the controversial train station of the Ayutthaya high-speed rail project as the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has agreed to revise the project blueprint so as to mitigate adverse effects on the former capital's heritage value.
The revised blueprint of the Ayutthaya section of the high-speed rail project linking Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima sees the station's height lowered from 37.45 metres to 35.45m and the track elevation reduced from 19m to 17m, as well as a slight relocation from the designated spot in order to reduce the visual impact on Ayutthaya's historical park, recognised as a Unesco world heritage site.
The reduction of the station's roof is to ensure its gigantic structure will not overshadow the original Ayutthaya Railway Station, thus preserving its historical value.
It is understood that the revised version complies with Unesco's recommendations. The UN body dispatched a team of experts to Ayutthaya late in January to discuss solutions with the SRT and involved agencies to ease the impact of the colossal structure that would likely have cost Ayutthaya its world heritage status.
The SRT has reportedly already submitted the revised blueprint to Unesco and is awaiting its approval.
There are quite a few lessons to learn from this debacle.
One major mistake is the decision of the former Prayut Chan-o-cha junta regime in 2014 to rush the project through. The regime applied the contentious Section 44, which enabled involved agencies to bypass certain laws and regulations in order to go ahead with the project.
Sadly, the first environmental impact assessment (EIA) report did not reflect the possible impact of the project on the cultural value of the historical park in Ayutthaya, while the SRT tried to downplay the issue, citing the 1.5km distance between the station and the old capital's archaeological epicentre. The Fine Arts Department complained that it had been excluded from the project until the contracts had been signed, and it was a fait accompli.
Therefore, all credit must go to the conservationists who fiercely disputed the SRT's claims, eventually forcing the agency to commission a heritage impact assessment (HIA) study out of fear Ayutthaya would be stripped of its world heritage status.
By not following the regular process and regulations from the get-go, this section of the rail project, stretching 13.3km at a cost of over 10 billion baht, has experienced a lengthy delay and an increase in construction cost. The SRT has already completed other parts of the project, and suspending construction of the station in question complicated the issue. Moreover, relocating it to a more "acceptable" area was not feasible.
Eventually, the SRT had to fork out an additional budget for the HIA reports. All the problems could have been avoided if the agency and other concerned agencies had respected the principle of conservation instead of abusing legal loopholes to pursue the project.
Concerned agencies, particularly the Fine Arts Department, should push for an amendment of the regulations governing cultural protection and fix all the loopholes to ensure it has a say in a project that could be a threat to the nation's heritage.
State agencies should have a greater awareness of conservation. Instead of waiting for Unesco to dictate terms, they must protect our national heritage.