Current plans for the SSDP call for the construction
of two pipelines
(one for crude oil), two industrial ports
(one on the Gulf coast, the other on the
Andaman coast), tank farms, an
industrial estate, an oil refinery or
two and all the infrastructure necessary
to support this grandiose
scheme.
To make matters worse, the mega-project is
to be led by two notorious
state enterprises: the Petroleum
Authority of Thailand (PTT), which has made
such a hash of the Yadana
project, and the Industrial Estates
Authority of Thailand (IEAT), which is responsible
for the many
environmental debacles at Mab Ta Phud, the
centrepiece of the Eastern Seaboard project.
Coordinating the project, and rounding the
unholy trio, is the National
Economic and Social Development
Board (NESDB), the architect of the whole
top-down approach to
Thailand's industrialisation programme.
Although it has written some nice words about
human resources and
people-centred development in its
Eighth Plan, the NESDB's recent push for
the Southern Seaboard project
has once again revealed its true
colours.
Thais seem to have a weakness for economic
fads: some business venture
becomes extremely popular and
makes a few people a lot of money until finally
the bubble bursts. First
it was shrimp farms, then it was golf
courses and office blocks. Now it seems to
be seaboards.
The Southern Seaboard is aimed at duplicating
the economic success of
the Eastern Seaboard, which has
become a centre for the petrochemical trade.
Meanwhile, there are
proposals to develop the Western
Seaboard, which would actually revolve around
an industrial area in
Tavoy in Burma but would also serve
Thai provinces such as Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi.
So what's next? a Northern Seaboard?
The SSDP is said to have a strategic geographical
advantage: its
proponents say it can serve as an
alternative to the Straits of Malacca as
a trade route for oil being
shipped from the Middle East to the
markets of East Asia. Backers are also basing
their plans on predictions
of rising demand for petrochemical
products in China.
But following the economic crisis, demand
may not be as great as
previously forecast. China may also
decide to build its own petrochemical facilities.
The Southern and
Eastern Seaboards may end up competing
with each other, and the Western Seaboard,
too, for that matter. They
all will have a tough time battling the
well-established infrastructure in Singapore.
For all these reasons, private investors have
been understandably leery
of putting their money into the
Southern Seaboard, which is why Thai authorities
are trying to
jump-start the project by wooing Japanese
financiers.
Meanwhile, there are serious environmental
questions about the SSDP.
When Banharn Silapa-archa was
prime minister, he moved the proposed deep-sea
port on the Andaman coast
from Krabi to Phang Nga,
citing environmental reasons. (Politics probably
entered into the
equation, too.)
In fact, there is no safe site to put an industrial
port on the Andaman
coast. Environmental officials have
already protested that the Phang Nga site
is a vital breeding ground for
endangered sea turtles. Wherever
the port ends up, industrial activity may
destroy the Andaman coast's
flourishing tourist trade. Simply take a
stroll along a beach in Rayong on the Eastern
Seaboard and observe all
the oil spills washing ashore to see
what will happen to the beaches of Phuket
or the reefs of Koh Similan.
And yet, the Tourism Authority of Thailand
has not raised a peep of
protest over the Southern Seaboard.
Given the political nature of the project,
environmental officials may
be silenced, too. Certainly it does not
appear that the lessons from the Yadana fiasco
will be heeded. It is
therefore once again up to
environmental groups, villagers and other
NGOs to raise the alarm.
Hopefully, they will wake up to the
Southern Seaboard menace soon, before it
is too late.