Seree Supharatid, director of the Rangsit University's Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Centre, yesterday expressed concerns over the government's spending plan for flood prevention in the long run.
He said the country may not get the best flood solutions as Plodprasop Suraswadee, minister of science and technology, demanded that foreign and local contractors submit their conceptual plan within three months from now. "The three-month period is too short to make a good proposal; it should be at least six months," said Seree, at a seminar hosted by the Anti-Corruption Network movement.
He explained that in the short period, contractors could not make the best proposal as the landscape has been totally changed after the devastating flood last year. Since then industrial parks, communities and individuals have built their own flood barriers, he said. "Even if it is a small river basin we spend about two years studying it," he said.
He said that flood prevention was not like building roads and railways as the flood plan needs a combination of various projects, such as water retention, flood barriers and floodways.
...He warned that the government should not rush and plan only for the next 20 years but should look 50 to 100 years ahead. For example, Bangkok is sinking every year by 2.5 centimetres and within 50 years it will sink 1.5 metres...
From 2011, a true-color satellite image showing flooding in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani Provinces in Central Thailand.
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