Bt40 bn needed for longterm solution, PM says, as more rain looms

[Admin]

FLOOD CRISIS

Bt40 bn needed for longterm solution, PM says, as more rain looms
The Nation 2011-09-27

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday said the government would likely need to spend more than Bt40 billion on integrated water management, which should prevent extensive flooding in the future.

“It will be a long-term solution,” she said.

Yingluck blamed the lack of integrated efforts for the current widespread flooding, which had already caused 158 deaths and left three people missing. The floods continue to rage on in 23 provinces, affecting the lives of 1.92 million people.

“The problem is the lack of an integrated effort. As authorities in one province seek to prevent their province from floods, other provinces are affected,” the PM said.

She lamented that her government did not know how to drain all the flood water, given that it was now literally almost everywhere.

Yingluck had a video conference with the governors of flooded provinces yesterday morning. This now occurs on a daily basis as the prime minister seeks to follow up on progress on flood-relief operations.

As to the current problem, she urged all agencies to protect Bangkok and its adjacent provinces from overflowing rivers as the run-off from the upper part of the country races southwards.

However, for a long-term solution, she is pinning hopes on the committee on integrated water management. She said the authorities from all provinces had already proposed long-term flood-prevention plans to the panel.

According to the Meteorological Department, storm Haitang will add to the current problem by entering the Northeast today. Under its influence, heavy rain will likely saturate many areas of both the Northeast and the East.

Flash floods are therefore possible in many more provinces, the agency said.

Moreover, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department director-general Wiboon Sanguanpong said as many as 30 provinces were at risk of flash flooding and landslides this week.

“Officials must monitor the situation closely,” he said.

The Royal Irrigation Department said the Pasak Jolasid Dam would have to release water because the amount it currently held already exceeded its capacity by 30 per cent.

“We have to release water now because this is the low tide, too,” an irrigation official said.

The level of the Pasak River in Saraburi and Ayutthaya will rise when the dam releases water.

As of press time, the Pasak had already overflowed in Ayutthaya’s Tha Ruea district, with the water level having risen by 30 centimetres during the day.

A road next to Tha Ruea Market was submerged under a metre of flood water.