PM orders EIA-EHIA for Krabi coal-fired power plant in Thai South

BANGKOK, February 21 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has ordered an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and an environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) for a planned coal-fired power plant in Krabi Province in the Thai South with public participation. After Tuesday’s Cabinet weekly meeting at Bangkok's Government House, the prime minister told journalists that the studies, to be supervised by a tripartite committee, will be carried on following some delay. The prime minister insisted what he have done are all for public and national interests, not for himself. "If the construction of the planned coal-fired power plant in Krabi was proceeded, the plant could be operational in 2023-2024, otherwise, local people would have to shoulder the burden of higher energy costs", the prime minister said. The prime minister's order to go ahead with the EIA and the EHIA came after a protest by a opposition group outside the Government House last week. The protesters dispersed on February 19, after their proposal had been accepted by the Thai government to carry on the EIA and the EHIA. (TNA)