Construction of flood barriers to complete next five years

BANGKOK, February 9 (TNA) - Construction of reservoirs and dams to prevent a massive flood from hitting Thailand is expected to start in the next one year and to complete five years later, said Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi. Plodprasop said in his capacity as chairman of the National Water Resources and Flood Policy Committee, set up by the government when the country was hit by significant flood in late 2011, that the cabinet has selected six private groups contested in the government-sponsored bidding for the flood prevention programme worth 350 billion baht. Initially, the six groups will have to present their technical investment plans, an exact duration of construction period and their bidding prices must be lower than others. The government will give details of the bidding to them within next week. Agreements are expected to be signed this April while construction is projected to commence later and complete within the next five years, he said. Realising that the massive flood prevention projects would impact many people living in affected areas, Plodprasop said demonstrations or protests are likely to be staged by people asking to evacuate from their homes. He said people who are to be asked to leave their homes and pave ways for construction should think of the majority of the people as the gigantic flood disaster that happened more than a year ago had affected at least two million people, caused damages of about 1.4 trillion baht and one-fifths of land in the country was damaged. The government will offer reasonable fee on land expropriation to affected land owners, he added. (TNA)