RID deputy chief Somkiat Prajamwong on Wednesday led journalists on a visit to Nakhon Sawan province to inspect the Sakae Krang river basin area.

They inspected the Klong Pho reservoir in Nakhon Sawan’s Mae Pearn district and other areas in the province’s Lat Yao district that would benefit from the construction of the dam.

Boasting a capacity of 70 million cubic metres, the Klong Pho reservoir currently has 50 million cubic metres – enough to cater to the needs of surrounding farms and tap water use, Somkiat explained.

But Lat Yao, which gets water directly from Mae Wong Creek, has dried up.

“If the Mae Wong Dam construction can’t get the nod, the area would have little raw water for waterworks and the Mae Wong Sub-district Administration Organisation would depend on the Klong Pho reservoir for waterworks,” he said.

Somkiat said the river basin area had been hit by repeated droughts over the past decade due to factors including forest encroachment, low rainfall and high demand for water. He said the area had also suffered flood damage to homes and farmlands and as a result many residents wanted the dam constructed in the hope it would solve those problems, but activists kept objecting it.

The Mae Wong Dam was one of the eight dam projects given the green light to find a contractor without an environmental impact assessment being conducted yet under the absolute power afforded Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha under Article 44 of the junta’s interim charter.

However, the dam is on land controlled by the Department of National Parks (DNP), meaning a contractor could not be found yet, Somkiat said.

He said the RID was waiting for the Forestry Department and the DNP to submit information of the impact the dam would have on forests and wildlife to an expert committee scrutinising the project’s expected impact on the health of locals and the environment.

Meanwhile, locals yesterday urged the authorities to fix a subsidence problem affecting a concrete road along Klong Bo Nam Chiew in tambon Ra Haeng in Pathum Thani’s Lat Lum Kaeo district.

They said the problem had existed for three months and affect the approximately 1,000 households that used the route to access three villages.