Oct 5, 1993: The Chuan Cabinet
approves Egat's electricity-generating
development plan and urges the PTT
to sign the Yadana gas-sales
agreement with the Burmese
government to supply Egat's power
plant in Ratchaburi.
Sep 9, 1994: Industry Minister Sanan
Kachornprasart signs MoU with
Burma's Energy Minister Khin Maung
Thein in Rangoon.
Feb 2, 1995: Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai signs Gas Sales Agreement
with Burma's Energy Minister at
Government House. The Cabinet
approves the PTT's signing of a
gas-sales contract with the
production consortium, including
Total Myanmar Exploration and
Production, Unocal Myanmar
Offshore Co Ltd, Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprise and the Petroleum
Authority of Thailand Exploration and
Production Co Ltd (PTTEP).
June: Oct, 1995: The PTT hires
Team Consulting Engineers Co Ltd to
conduct the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA).
June 23, 1996: The PTT submits the
EIA to the Office of Environment
Policy and Planning (OEPP).
May 7, 1996: The Chavalit Cabinet
approves the project in principle and
allows the PTT to build the pipeline
in
the Huay Khayeng forest reserve, 1A
watershed area. Conservation groups
and human-rights NGOs protest at
the Cabinet's resolution.
May 21, 1996: The OEPP's
infrastructure expert committee
rejects the EIA, orders the PTT to
study further the project's impact on
wildlife and the forest and orders it
to
hold a public hearing.
Feb 10-12, 1997: The PTT holds a
technical hearing in Kanchanaburi,
but it fails to assuage villagers'
anxiety about earthquakes and
sabotage.
Mar 11, 1997: The OEPP expert
committee, after rejecting the EIA
several times, finally approves it on
the condition that further studies are
carried out while the project is being
built. Environmentalists call on the
PTT to re-route the pipeline outside
the forest.
Mar 24, 1997: The National
Environment Board approves the EIA
and sets up a provincial committee to
monitor the environmental impacts of
the project.
June 1997: Environmentalists call on
PM Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to cancel
the project and ask him to order the
PTT to make public all contracts
related to it.
Oct 21, 1997: The Chavalit Cabinet
orders the Royal Forestry
Department to revoke park status for
a section of the Sai Yoke National
Park through which the pipeline will
be built.
Dec 27, 1997: Environmentalists and
students set up camp in the Huay
Khayeng forest at kilometre 27.5
along the pipeline's route, again
calling on the government to re-route
the pipeline outside the forest.
Jan 5, 1998: Four environmental
NGOs authorise the Lawyers' Council
of Thailand to file a lawsuit against
the PTT alleging that it has violated
the Environment Act. (The suit has
not been filed.)
Jan 8, 1998: Disturbed by
construction work, an elephant herd
living in the Huay Khayeng forest
encroaches on a villager's farm, and
a baby elephant falls into a trap dug
by villagers.
Jan 9-12, 1998: Prime Minister
Chuan sets up the legal committee to
study the project's contract.
Jan 22, 1998: Village headmen in
Kanchanaburi mobilise more than
15,000 villagers to support the project
in front of the Provincial Hall.
Feb 12, 1998: Chuan establishes a
neutral committee chaired by former
PM Anand Panyarachun to review
the project.
Feb 13-18, 1998: The committee
invites all people concerned in the
project to attend hearings and
provide relevant information.
Feb 25, 1998: The committee submits
a recommendation to the premier and
then to the public at Government
House.