BMA leads fight to battle coastal erosion

BMA leads fight to battle coastal erosion

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has proposed a plan to add soil to a coastal area in Bang Khunthian to battle severe erosion that has degraded 5 square kilometres of land over the past four decades.

The land filling scheme would use sand and mud that the Marine Department would dredge from clogged river estuaries, Sakchai Boonma, the Bangkok deputy governor, said.

He said the department scoops up 1 million cubic metres of soil and mud each year.

"So, we came up with the idea to ask for the sand to protect the Bang Khunthian shore from erosion," Mr Sakchai told reporters after meeting officials from the district, the only district in Bangkok with a coastline.

"Then, we will plant mangrove trees on the refilled land.

"If we do this, we can prevent coastal erosion."

He said the BMA had been in contact with the Marine Department -- the state body that oversees coastline development -- to discuss budget requirements and the logistics of sending sand and soil to refill the shore line.

The initiative is at an early stage, and the BMA is yet to figure out further logistical costs before proposing budget measures.

If approved, he said the land-filling could start before the end of this year and would take one year to see outcomes.

Each year, sea water has eaten away at the Bang Khunthian shoreline -- between 1.4m to 4.5m metres per year in depth -- without any substantial means in place to prevent it. The only visible preventative measures are bamboo sticks that villagers have placed to fend off the tide.

All projects proposed in the past failed to get off the ground. For instance, a proposed project to build an offshore T-groyne 15 years ago drew opposition from villagers and conservationists on the grounds of detrimental environmental impacts and an "exorbitant one billion baht cost".

A project to use 800 decommissioned electric poles donated by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to create a sea wall, implemented since 2017, was scuttled because of budget constraints.

Villagers spent their own money to place bamboo sticks to combat erosion. But these need to be replaced every two years.

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