As a Bangkok-Thon Buri resident, I have grave concerns over the 14-billion-baht Chao Phraya River promenade project, dubbed as the New Landmark of Thailand, that is being promoted by the military government.
The project features a 12-metre-wide path, aimed at promoting the use of bicycles, a popular leisure activity, but which I fear will further destroy the cultural landscape of the river.
It's inarguable that poorly-planned development in past years has left the cultural landscape of the river, a major artery of the country, in bad shape.
In recent years, wealthy real estate investors, with the nod from the state, took possession of most riverfront strips, turning them into towering blocks that serve as hotels, condominiums and office buildings. In so doing, the new landscape has compromised the beauty of our eastern, riverine society which can still be seen in paintings by Andre Murot and some western photographers who recorded that old beauty during the reign of King Rama IV.
In my view, the very first eyesore that harms the riverine landscape is the tall condominium project in the Pin Klao area. With such a towering height, the condominium, dubbed by many as a giant Shiva linga, is an insult to the stupa of Wat Arun temple, equivalent to the sacred Borom That (main stupa that houses the Lord Buddha's relics) of Rattanakosin town.
Another example of visual pollution in the Chao Phraya landspace is the new parliament building in the Kiakkai area. The gigantic project has altered the cultural landscape forever. Apart from challenging our old belief that only a palace and temple could be built on such a large scale, the project has caused an impact on the communities, as well as an old Yothin Burana school, which were evicted from the designated site.
In fact, before the promenade project was initiated, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, with a group of town planners and university lecturers, planned to create a colossal flyover across the river. If constructed, the project would have led to the forced eviction of some historical communities which have lived and depended on the riverine system for generations.
The Chao Phraya is like the backbone of the country which has interdependent tributaries or khlongs where groups of people of various ethnicities settled down as communities.
The present landscape came into existence with the digging of two new canals as a short-cut during the Ayutthaya era. In Bangkok, a new canal dug in 1534 opened a waterway linking Bangkok Noi and Bangkok Yai which later became the main river which we see today.
One characteristic of resettlements in this area is the name of each community begins with "Bang", which reflects its riverine nature.
Each community has a temple as its centre. In some areas, there are Chinese shrines -- mostly next to market places like Talad Noi in Charoen Krung -- and mosques. Poet Sunthorn Phu described each community in his series of travelogues, including his famous Niras Phukao Thong, or the golden mount travelogue.
As a major transport route in the old Bangkok, river trade prospered, with orchard farmers from the Thon Buri side and nearby provinces using the river to transport their produce.
The areas where the river meet canals have become bustling trading places called pakklong talad markets where fruits and vegetables were loaded to feed locals on the Phra Nakhon side. There is evidence this system existed even before Bangkok was established as the new capital of Rattanakosin.
With development in modern times, the river trade system has faded with the death of some pakklong markets. The Tha Tian market is a prime example. Extensions of electric train routes dealt a heavy blow to some riverine communities. Many were evicted, and cleared to pave the way for stations on the train routes.
But the controversial promenade project will just turn bad into worse. Changes in the cultural landscape have occurred in past decades, but at least some vestige of the past remains. People can still take a journey on the river to see the old ways of living.
It will not possible with the promenade project. With its length, 7km, or 14km on both sides of the river in the first phase, and over 100km in later stages, it threatens to kill the entire river landscape as well as local communities and small towns along the riverside and canals.
The promenade will effectively block the remaining pakklong spots and weaken orchard farmers who depend on this system.
Looking at recent development, I have little faith in elected politicians who played a part in introducing the changes that destroyed the cultural landscape. So it shocks me to see the military, which promised to bring back happiness to the people, pushing for this controversial project. I hope they listen and reconsider.
Srisakra Vallibhotama is anthropologist and adviser of the Lek-Prapai Viriyaphan Foundation. This article is an adaptation of an article published in the foundation's journal.