Blindly opposing Kaeng Sua Ten Dam is pointless, says Somsak

Phrae locals should talk to the government instead of blindly taking a stand against the long-delayed construction of Kaeng Sua Ten Dam, caretaker Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said.

He said on Tuesday that the protesters blindly launched a protest every time the government mentions the project as a measure to prevent flooding in the Yom River basin that covers Phrae and Sukhothai provinces.

Hailing from Sukhothai himself, Somsak said he has endured heavy flooding every year because there is no reservoir to trap the waters that inundate the area when the Yom River bursts its banks.

Somsak said Sukhothai had to build a 9-kilometre-long levee to protect three districts from being inundated by the overflowing river, but the levee does not help much.

He said many residents in Sukhothai’s Sri Samrong and Muang districts have had to shift because they are quite sick of the annual flooding.

“I cannot move because I’m a politician and must stay to fight,” he said. “They [the protesters] are too narrowminded and if they continue being this way, the problems will never be solved.

“Whenever the project is mentioned, they come out with effigies to burn in protest. I have been torched again and again. Very narrowminded indeed,” he said.

Somsak said the protesters should be open to talking with the government and listen to the pros and cons that will be presented by a non-partisan agency, like the World Bank.

He added that he will call on the National Water Resources Office to invite the World Bank to study the Kaeng Sua Ten project and decide whether the pros outweigh the cons.

The Kaeng Sua Ten dam project was initiated by the Cabinet back in 1980 as a hydropower dam of the Electricity Generating Authority.

After much opposition by NGOs, local people and environmentalists, the project was transferred to the Royal Irrigation Department in 1989 as an irrigation dam but the opposition did not stop.

In 2012, local people and NGOs, including the Sueb Nakasatien Foundation and the Network of Takonyom River Basin, proposed that the government develop small and medium-sized dams instead of pushing for the 350-billion-baht Kaeng Sua Ten dam.

On Saturday, caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said it was time to discuss the Kaeng Suea Ten Dam project because the Yom River has been posing major problems for decades as there is no reservoir to accommodate the influx of water. 

The Kaeng Suea Ten Dam will block the Yom River in Phrae’s Song district and store water for agricultural use in the upper Chao Phraya Basin.

Somsak said on Tuesday that the dam should be used to generate power because the site is high and the water will fall 60 metres, creating enough energy to turn the turbines of electricity generators.

He said proceeds from the sale of this electricity can be used to pay lifelong compensation to villagers who will be relocated to make way for the dam.