PM will visit Chiang Mai this week

BANGKOK, April 25 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will visit Chiang Mai province on April 27 to follow up royal development projects and assistance programs of the government. Assistant government spokesman Athisit Chainuwat said that in Chiang Mai Gen Prayut would meet a committee tasked with coordinating and supporting royal development projects at the Royal Park Rajapruek. There he will follow up support for royal development projects in fiscal years 2012-2016. Then the prime minister will visit a royal project produce center in Mae Hia area. The center was developed to encourage hill tribe people to grow useful plants and improve their living conditions. Researchers and academics meet there monthly to help the farmers. Col Athisit said the cultivation allowed hill tribe people to stop growing poppies and earn income from other plants instead. In the afternoon of April 27, the prime minister will preside over a ceremony to grant land use permits for people living in parts of forest reserves. Then he will visit exhibitions and follow up the results of projects that the government has implemented to help local residents, including water management and life improvement projects. (TNA)