THE national committee set
up to review the Yadana
gas pipeline yesterday
declined to recommend that
the project be delayed or
the route be altered and
instead suggested the
government solve the
problems surrounding it.
The committee, chaired by
former prime minister
Anand Panyarachun,
criticised the project's lack
of transparency and its
environmental survey.
Claiming the committee had
no mandate to review the
economic, energy and
foreign policy decisions
which led to the pipeline
being approved five years
ago, the panel limited its
short-term
recommendations to the
establishment of a
subcommittee which will
monitor the project's
impacts and add necessary
data to the environmental
impact assessment (EIA).
In the long term, it
recommended that the area
around the Huay Khayeng
forest reserve -- a 1A
watershed forest and home
for endangered wildlife
through which the pipeline
will transport natural gas
from Burma's Yadana field
-- be declared a wildlife
sanctuary.
''The project's
decision-making is not
transparent, and the EIA
was conducted without
public participation.
Instead, there was only
public relations,'' the
committee's report states. It
adds that the project's
owner, the Petroleum
Authority of Thailand (PTT),
did not pay attention to the
impact construction would
have on human rights,
communities and the
environment.
''It [the PTT] adheres to the
old paradigm that the
power of a state agency is
above the rights and
freedom of the people,'' it
said.
Piti Yimprasert, president of
the PTT's gas division,
responded yesterday that
his agency had revealed
enough information to the
public.
''What is the definition of
'public'?'' he asked. ''If it
only refers to villagers
affected by the project,
then I insist that we have
given them enough
information, and more than
90 per cent of them agree
with construction. If anyone
wants me to talk with the
Burmese people, I cannot
because it isn't my
business.''
The committee also raised
questions about the
manner in which EIAs in
general are carried out and
approved, and suggested
the process be reviewed. It
proposed that the
government improve laws
related to the
decision-making process of
mega-projects, stipulating
there must be public
participation prior to
approval. The government
should also establish an
information centre where
the public and the press
can collect information
about any development
project.
''The entire committee
agrees that the conflict
surrounding the pipeline
project was caused by a
lack of information, so the
government must learn
from this case that it must
distribute information and
hold public hearings before
approving any project,''
Anand said.
There was also a
consensus among the
committee members that
the project's EIA was
carried out poorly.
''In our report, we state
quite clearly that we are not
satisfied with the Yadana
project's EIA or the EIA
process in general because
it lacks public participation,
and the information about
the forest and its wildlife is
incomplete,'' said
committee member
Mingsarn Khaosa-ard of the
Thailand Development
Research Institute.
Committee spokesman
Kaewsan Atipho said it will
recommend to Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai that
a new subcommittee be set
up to monitor the project's
environmental impacts as a
replacement for the existing
provincial subcommittee,
which is comprised mostly
of government officials.
''The subcommittee can ask
the Prime Minister to order
a halt to construction if it
feels the impact on the
environment becomes too
great,'' he said.
The committee also
proposed the government
must urge the PTT to repair
the homes of villagers
affected by construction
and compensate them as
quickly as possible.
Along with holding a press
conference at Government
House, the committee met
with Chuan yesterday to
pass on their report. A final
decision on the project
rests with the Cabinet.
The prime minister said the
government would try to
make a decision concerning
the project this week.
Piphob Dhongchai, head of
the Campaign for Popular
Democracy and a leading
pipeline opponent, said the
protesters who have
blockaded construction at
KP27 of the pipeline route
will close down the camp
one day after the premier
announces the
government's decision.
''We accept any decision
from the government, but I
hope it will suspend
construction in the forest
until the new
[sub]committee has found a
way to reduce the
environmental impact,''
Piphob said.
''I don't understand why the
government and the PTT
want to rush construction,
because Egat's Ratchaburi
power plant might be not
completed by July 1'', the
day it is due to start
receiving gas from the
pipeline.
Speaking about the
committee's attempt to
review the mega-project in
the space of 10 days,
Anand explained that ''this
has not been an easy
process, but we hope that
each side will emerge a
winner''.
The conservationists and
human rights activists who
oppose the project,
however, were clearly
disappointed by the
decision not to alter the
project. Afterwards, they sat
around the conference
room, seemingly stunned
and mystified by the
committee's reasoning.
Pipob Udomittipong, a
pipeline critic from the
Kalayanamitra Council, said
the committee's stance
contained many ''big flaws''.
''They said the EIA is not
satisfactory, and that
means there should be a
proposal to re-do it. But
they just want to set up a
subcommittee to add more
information to it,'' he said.
''This suggests they don't
care about the elephants
[who have been affected by
the pipeline] but only the
project itself.
''The impact on the
elephants is an urgent
issue, but they don't
recommend any short-term
measures to address it.
Instead, they say the area
should become a wildlife
sanctuary in the long term,
but by then the elephants
may be dead.''
One suggested alternative
solution was to change the
route of the pipeline so that
it follows the road to Ban
I-Tong, where the pipeline
will cross into Thailand,
rather than pass through
the forest. But committee
member Suraphol Sudara
said that would not be
feasible.
''The route selected was the
one which causes the least
damage to the forest. To
lay the pipeline along the
road would also cause
damage as the road is very
curvy and the mountainside
would need to be blasted in
several areas,'' said the
Chulalongkorn lecturer. ''It
would also necessitate a
big delay in the project and
increase expenses
significantly.''
Pipob said it was unfair of
the committee to reject the
economic and energy policy
arguments offered by
opponents, while accepting
the PTT's claims
concerning the alternative
route's engineering
problems without even
going to the site for
verification.
''The committee says the
public should have access
to information, but even the
committee itself could not
get information from most
government agencies,''
Pipob added. ''All in all, the
implications of the
measures proposed by the
committee reflects a hidden
agenda that the pipeline
must be built.'' |