Activists urge UN, other countries to reject Land Bridge scheme

Activists urge UN, other countries to reject Land Bridge scheme
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin speaks about the area gate initiative at Government House on Feb 22. ( Photo: Chanat Katanyu )

A group of local campaigners has petitioned the United Nations and some foreign embassies to accept the president’s Land Bridge venture, saying the task would violate the individual rights of residents in the damaged areas.

In the complaint, members from Patoh Conservation Network, Rak Ranong and the Council of Southern People expressed their concerns to the task, which they described as lacking clarity, harmful to the environment and undermining animal rights rules.

They urged potential buyers to consider all factors of the job before pouring their money into the system.

Somchok Jungjaturant, from Patoh Conservation Network, said that he and 50 other protesters had visited the offices of China, Japan, and Germany — countries that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin had visited&nbsp, to market the job — to voice their criticism.

The group said Mr Srettha’s presentation did n’t provide investors with the bigger picture, especially its effect on local lives, the environment, and basic human rights.

” We are here to allow foreign investors know the other side of history, which has never been told by the authorities”, he said, explaining that the project may kill local residents ‘ way of life and destroy their access to rich land and marine resources.

” We hope that our communication will become seriously considered. It can help reduce the infraction of basic human rights of local people, and reduce the severity of weather change”.

The initiative would see the development of a large port on the Gulf of Thailand coast, as well as the Andaman Sea coast, which would be linked by a dual- track railway and a 90km highway. It may have an underwater logistics program and an industrial property for the petrochemical industry.

The parties fear local citizens would be severely affected by the structure, particularly the Moken aboriginal tribes who live along the Andaman coast.

Many of them do not have membership files, so they would not receive payment for the property they presently inhabit, he said.

According to Mr Somchok, the community will also send a complaint to the prime minister at&nbsp, Government House on Tuesday and the legislature on Wednesday.