A STUDY of the controversial Kaeng
Sua Ten dam project carried out by
the UN clearly states that the
dam cannot completely prevent floods
in the Yom River basin, a source
at the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment said yesterday.
The senior
official said the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) had
overstated the dam's capacity
to control floods in the area, causing
a conflict between pro and anti-dam
groups.
''To prevent
floods, the dam must be larger and it shouldn't store
any water in the reservoir during
normal times, but the Kaeng Sua Ten is
a medium-sized dam with the initial
purpose of producing electricity
[which means it will have to
store a certain amount of water at all
times]," the source said.
He added that the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) study
clearly showed that only a small
portion of floodwater could be
stored by the dam to reduce
flooding in the provinces, because there are
other sources of floodwater besides
the Yom River.
''Looking at the RID data, it
is still unclear whether the dam is
worthwhile, but the FAO study
says the dam is not cost-effective,"
said the source who, like other
environmental officials in the
ministry, declined to be named
because Science Minister Yingphan
Manasikarn fully supports the
project.
Meanwhile, a source at the Office
of Environmental Policy and
Planning (OEPP) this week
said a study of the Kaeng Sua Ten dam's ecological
impacts will not be completed
until the beginning of next year.
''In particular, the wildlife,
such as the birds and peacocks, in Mae
Yom National Park has to be studied
during the cold season," the
source said. ''But now, with
several conflicts and sensitive problems
at the site, the study team from
Chulalongkorn University's Science
Faculty can't go to the area."
The source said Mae Yom National
Park has some areas similar to those
at the Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife
Sanctuary, including several streams
and valleys which form a good
habitat for wildlife.
''This significant forest area
can't be evaluated merely by counting
up the large trees and placing
an economic value on them. You can't
assume that the other small plants
are worthless, because they're
very important to the ecosystem,"
the OEPP source said.
According to the source, a group
of academics and expert committee
members led by Parinya Nutalai
of the Asian Institute of Technology
will survey the dam site next
month.
Harnnarong Yaowalert, an officer
at the Wildlife Fund of Thailand,
yesterday questioned the reliability
of a study on the potential
impact of the dam on the villagers
carried out by a team from Chiang
Mai University which had been
hired by the Phrae provincial
authority.
''With the Bt2 million budget,
the study so far contains only 24
pages with rough, secondary
data about the villagers and the resettlement
area, while other important information
about the villagers' culture
and their interviews are overlooked,"
he said.
According to Harnnarong, some
data such as the number of families in
three villages in Tambon Sa-iab
- Don Kaew, Don Chai and Mae Ten -
was quoted from the Sa-iab
health centre, which states that there are 776
families who will be displaced.
The villagers themselves say that
more than 1,000 families
will have to be resettled.
He said on Nov 14 the 24-page
report was sent to the village
representatives, including Kamnan
Choom Sa-iabkong and Seng
Khuanyuen, for them to
add their comments. The report was supposed to be sent
back to the study team by Nov
15.
Jiraphol Sintunava, a lecturer
at Mahidol University's Faculty of
Environment and Resource Studies
said the problems at Kaeng Sua Ten
have resulted because of the
insincerity of government agencies and
failed to disclose information
about the project to the public.
He said he didn't believe the
dam project will solve the flooding
problem because the Sirikit Dam,
which is three times bigger than the
Kaeng Sua Ten dam, does not relieve
all the floods during the rainy
season.