THE NATION: EDITORIAL/Southern Seab

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Editorial & Opinion 

      EDITORIAL/Southern
      Seaboard plan may wreck
      environment

      If you thought the controversy over the
      Yadana gas-pipeline project was bad, wait
      until you see the Southern Seaboard
      Development Project (SSDP). For despite
      all the talk of reform engendered by the
      economic crisis, Thai authorities evidently
      still love their huge, state-sponsored
      development projects. 

      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.