To assist households that were affected by flood in southern regions last year and to fund post-flood treatment and development projects, the government approved a finances of more than 4.5 billion bass yesterday.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stated at a smart government appointment in Songkhla’s Hat Yat area that a total of 304.8 million baht will be used for 22 initiatives to repair the damaged facilities in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat. The National Economic and Social Development ( NESD ) accepted the proposals for the projects.
An redistribution of 300 million baht was approved for 23 related tasks, even proposed by the NESD, for Songkhla, Surat Thai, Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
More than 405, 969 households were reportedly compensated by the government for flood in the South late last year, according to Ms. Paetongtarn, who said a 3.65 billion ringgit from the central account was approved. The Interior Ministry made the suggestion for the money support.
She added that the government approved, in theory, 12 tasks worth 300 million ringgit from the private market. They include projects to encourage community commerce in the South, a task to clear weeds in Phatthalung’s Thalae Noi wetland, and other projects.
Meanwhile, a group of protesters submitted a letter to Ms Paetongtarn, calling on the government to scrap the Southern Economic Corridor ( SEC ) project.
It claimed that the project may widen the gap between locals and business owners, who would have more exposure than they should to organic solutions.
Somboon Khamheng, head of the Coordinating Committee of NGOs in the South, which gathered in Songkhla, voiced his sorrow with the prime minister’s excursion to the South, saying citizens did no have a chance to express their concern about the president’s move to build the SEC.
He claimed that enforcement of certain laws, particularly those relating to land use and natural resources management and conservation, would be suspended in accordance with the Southern Economic Corridor ( SEC ) bill, which is necessary for the project to continue.
Any bill that would grant these rights to a select group of people, according to Mr. Somboon, is opposed by the group.
The SEC will cover four southern provinces– Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The Land Bridge project, which connects Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand to Ranong in the Andaman Sea, is also covered by the SEC.
That would see a deep-sea port in both provinces, plus a motorway and a railway system connecting them, which are expected to improve logistics.
However, Ms. Paetongtarn asserted yesterday that the government is ready to take into account people’s concerns and that it is the government’s responsibility to explain how the project will help them.