Bt10 bn earmarked for flood-hit households

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Bt10 bn earmarked for flood-hit households

The Nation

The government will allocate more than Bt10 billion to compensate some 2 million households nationwide affected by the flooding, Federation of Thai Industries president Payungsak Chartsutthipol said yesterday.

The affected households would get about Bt5,000 each, Payungsak said after a meeting with the government's rehabilitation committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong.

The Interior Ministry would register flood-affected people and begin distributing the compensation within two weeks, he said.

Major flooding began to hit the Central region of the country a few months ago, before reaching Bangkok and its suburbs in early October. Millions of households as well as many industrial estates and business centres have been heavily damaged.

The committee also agreed to allocate some Bt100 million to rehabilitate industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces.

Of that amount, Bt50 million would be spent on construction of temporary housing for swamped businesses, Bt22 million to contain industrial waste, Bt15 million on treatment of contaminated water and Bt5 million on water quality control, Payungsak said.

Kittiratt is scheduled to propose the package to the Cabinet for approval today(Nov . Meanwhile, the Senate expected to receive donations of more than Bt36 million from the public to contribute to flood-affected people, according to Senate speaker Theeradej Meepian.

The Senate secretary's office has already received nearly Bt30 million in donations, he said.

The Senate's committee for flood relief would distribute cash and necessary items to inundated areas in 32 provinces through their senators, he said.


-- The Nation 2011-11-08