PM Yingluck To Check On Flood Payments In Second Nationwide Tour

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PM Yingluck To Check On Flood Payments In Second Nationwide Tour

BANGKOK: -- A second round of a nationwide tour led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to inspect flood prevention projects is scheduled on June 1216, with 31 Cabinet members as entourage each assigned to visit 31 provinces.

Among primary objectives is to inspect how compensatory payments had been made to qualified recipients and to check on the progress of flood prevention measures and projects both immediate and longterm, she said yesterday during a press conference.

The areas facing a delay are construction projects in headwater areas in the North and those used as catchment areas in central provinces, she said.

Yingluck did not respond to reporters' question over a news report about a qualified recipient based in Pathum Thani getting only Bt15 in compensation, and later the figure was altered to Bt15,000 a few days after he made a complaint.

The matter was later queried to Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, who blamed the error on workload on officials processing the request and payment steps, and dismissed a speculation of possible corruption.

"Give the officials a chance, don't be harsh on them nor take it too seriously," he said, adding that there were around 200,000 qualified recipients of compensation alone in hardhit Pathum Thani.

He said underperforming governors of provinces where delay of flood prevetion projects were reported would be transferred away in the Interior Ministry reshuffle in October, and that those found inefficient in narcotics suppression would also face the same action.

The water trapped in Bhumibhol and Sirikit Dams has averaged half the capacity, the Royal Irrigation Department reported yesterday. Although the RID did not say whether this has indicated a risk of a subsequent massive flooding, but the water volume released from these two dams had contributed to a colossol amount of excessive water that later flooded the entire Central and part of Bangkok last year.

The water at Bhumibhol Dam in Tak is now 46 per cent of full capacity while that of at Sirikit Dam in Uttaradit is at 49 per cent. There is a total of 13 billion cubic metres (units) capable at all dams in the North, compared to current volume at Bhumibhol Dam of 6.182 billion units.

The total capacity of all dams in the Northeast and the East is now 4.8 billion units and 138 million units respectively, said the RID.

The Nation 2012-06-07