Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), said yesterday that although no issues had been uncovered, a fact-finding panel would be set up today to look into the case further.

If the panel found irregularities, state authorities involved would face disciplinary action and individuals who had since retired could still face prosecution along with other wrongdoers outside the office, he said.

The allegations were exposed by the United States Justice Department, which has reportedly said that bribes were paid to some people who claimed to be advisers on the Thai Parliament’s CCTV camera procurement project, which was carried out in 2006.

The news prompted NLA Vice President Surachai Liengboonlertchai to instruct the committee that oversaw the compound to ask relevant staff to explain what happened regarding the project. He said he would report the initial finding to the president.

Pornpetch, who has received the initial report, said there were two CCTV procurement projects at the Parliament. The first, in March 30, 2006, was worth around Bt29 million, and the second, in February 23, 2009, was worth Bt26.9 million.

He said no irregularities were found in procurements on either project and officials followed regulations.

Pornpetch said he would like to contact the foreign agencies regarding the allegations, but that was the responsibility of the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General.

IN THE face of complaints, operators of Bangkok’s first waste-to-energy power plant have insisted the facility and operations are environmentally friendly.

Environmentalists have raised concerns about the plant’s waste-disposal procedures, which they said would cause massive pollution, while residents in the area have complained about unidentified malodorous air pollution at night.

Ning He, chief executive officer of C&G Environmental Protection Ltd, said that the plant in Nong Khaem district had the latest technology to produce power from waste with the smallest pollution emissions.

He said garbage sent to the plant was fermented for a few days to reduce the moisture to less than 35 per cent and then the fermented garbage was roasted to further decrease the moisture to 10 per cent before incineration. The garbage is incinerated at temperatures between 800 and 1,000 degree Celsius.

“With our technology, we can ensure that there is complete burning in our waste disposal and electricity generation process and there is a proper pollution detection system that can ensure that the qualities of air, water and noise do not exceed the safe limits,” he said.

This plant, which has operated since May 2016, has a capacity to burn 300 to 500 tonnes of garbage per day to produce electricity up to 9.8 megawatts. The company has a 20-year concession from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to burn the city’s waste. It is the third plant of its kind in Thailand after those in Hat Yai and Phuket.

Ning said waste disposal by burning resulting in power generation was the best way to manage the large amount of garbage produced by Bangkok, which generates 8,700 tonnes of trash per day. However, he said that the lack of proper waste separation was still a problem and all kinds of materials were burned, including hazardous waste.

“Everything from the domestic trash bin ends up here. However, before the trash is sent to our facility, the binmen will segregate and collect the glass, plastic that can be sold and hazardous waste,” he said.

“Nevertheless, not all hazardous waste is kept out of the garbage that will be burnt in our power plant.”

He added that materials such as ash from the incineration and leachate water that percolates through the mix were properly treated to avoid environmental contamination. “We have a zero-pollution emission policy. The leachate will be treated and reused within the facility, while the ash will be land-filled in a licensed landfill,” he said.

“However, to reduce the operation costs and generate more income, we are planning to open a brick factory from garbage ash next year, which could be used in construction and as an artificial reef to prevent coastal erosion.”

Penchom Saetang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery (Thailand), said that the improper separation of waste before burning would generate severe pollution and decrease the efficiency of the plant.

“We have observed the waste-to-energy power plants in Phuket and Hat Yai and found that they all have a similar problem … and it has caused serious environmental problems in the area,” Penchom said.

“The plastic and hazardous waste must be removed from the garbage that will be burnt and the temperature of burning should be higher than 1,000C or dioxin, which can cause cancer and other health problems, will not be properly eliminated.”

She said the plan to use the plant’s ash for brick-making was a problem as ash from garbage was highly contaminated with dioxin and there was no clear research about the health implications of using a product made from garbage ash.

Local people in the area near the power plant stated have complained about a strong malodorous smog emanating from the plant at night. One of the residents, Tanakorn Vichudakornkul, said he and his mother usually detected a foul odour and smog coming from the direction of the plant after midnight.

“We have to close all windows at night and use the air conditioner. I don’t really know where this smog is coming from, but we don’t like it,” Tanakorn said.

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD) chief Chatchai Phromlert said yesterday that the floods had also damaged 4,314 roads, 348 bridges, 165 state offices and 2,336 schools.

Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Songkhla and Phatthalung remain affected by flooding with 104,350 residents impacted.

Ranong, Krabi, Trang, Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are now recovering from the inundation, Chatchai said.

As rainfall diminishes in the South, the DPMD has coordinated with flood-hit provinces to mobilise personnel and equipment to badly affected areas and to channel floods into the sea, he said.

Officials had also been instructed to keep in mind future demand for water and the possibility of a drought this year, Chatchai added.

DPMD deputy chief Kobchai Boon-orana, who presided over the opening of a Bangkok meeting of relevant agencies, yesterday focused on integrated disaster risk assessment. He said agencies were draining floodwaters into the sea and surveying the damage, including roads that needed repair.

Agencies would also widen drainage pipes underneath roads to reduce flooding in the future.

Kobchai said the risk-assessment system should be developed along with measures such as dredging canals, adding that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had urged officials to consider city plans and ensure that new construction does not block waterways and drainage channels.

Many families have been forced to suspend their children’s education after many rubber plantations in Trang were damaged by floods. Muang and Kantang districts, both on the Trang River, are still under one-metre-deep floodwaters that have submerged farmland and homes, affecting approximately 1,500 people.

Likhit Nunan, 66, a resident of Tambon Nong Trud, said his son had attended Trang Physical Education College for one year but had been forced to stop classes for a month already because Likhit could not earn money by tapping rubber at his employer’s seven-rai (1.12-hectare) plantation due to heavy rains and flooding.

He said in the meantime he had been collecting morning glory and water mimosa for sale to provide for his family of five.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has asked Council to approve a budget of Bt3.55 billion to take over the extension – from Bangkok’s Bearing to Samut Prakan province – from the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA)

The Bt3.55 billion is the first instalment of the project’s total Bt21.4 billion for infrastructure construction.

“We have to discuss whether this extension route will be worth spending the money,” Council member Chayawuth Siriyutwattana said yesterday. “Look at the Purple Line, which also runs to Bangkok’s suburbs. It has very few passengers.”

Chayawuth said that if the council did not approve the extension, the MRTA would have to handle the project by itself.

According to an informed source, part of the extension should have already started its free trial run last month. However, delays have occurred because the BMA has not yet paid the MRTA.

“Infrastructure construction for this extension route, in fact, has already been completed,” the source said.

Under the contract signed by the MRTA, the BMA and the Transport Ministry in 2015, the BMA will take over the extension of the Skytrain between Bearing and Samut Prakan, plus the extension route between Mo Chit and Kukot.

The BMA has assigned its legal investment arm, Krungthep Tanakom, to operate the extension.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source at Krungthep Tanakom said yesterday he did not think the project had been delayed over payment issues.

“We are in the process of waiting for the MRTA to check works carried out by contractors. The checks are due to take place by February 6. In addition, we have already started installing train-operation systems and related systems too,” he said.

A source said the government might be forced to pay the construction and operation costs of the Green Line extensions totalling Bt60.8 billion instead of the BMA, if the latter pulls out of the deal.

The MRTA previously signed an agreement with the BMA for assets transfer of the Green Line’s extended sections from Bearing to Samut Prakan and Mo Chit to Kukot. The assets, comprising civil engineering works and operations, are worth Bt60.8 billion.

The source said the Finance Ministry might be have to pay for the Green Line extension if the Bearing-Samut Prakan stretch is to open as scheduled.

This extension was scheduled to begin full operations along its entire stretch of nine stations before the end of 2018.

A source at MRTA said that the authority’s board of directors was unlikely to transfer any assets of the two sections to the BMA unless payment was made.

At the Metropolitan Police Bureau yesterday, Pol Maj General Surachai Kuandechakup said the five were arrested in Bang Khae district along with evidence including 21 motorcycle licence plates and 12 sets of ignition keys.

The suspects were identified as Somdech Chinnabutr, 49, Wittaya Wongwuth, 49, Kwanchai Sukban, 31, Nitipol Pliansakul, 29, and Jarin Seubsai, 54.

The arrests followed two early-morning motorcycle thefts, one on October 30 last year at a house in Bang Sue district’s Soi Pracharat 9 and the other on December 23 at Soi Pracharat 11.

Both crimes were carried out by two suspects riding a motorcycle and disguised as paper delivery men.

Jarin allegedly confessed that the gang had operated for over a year. Stolen motorbikes were fitted with new ignition key units before being sent to Tak and Ranong and then sold in Myanmar for Bt12,000 each, with the gang members receiving up to Bt9,000 each.

Investigators also found that Wittaya allegedly used to worked with a gambling den, which took motorbikes for onward sale to Myanmar, so he set up three teams of motorcycle thieves.

With two of the teams busted, police are now looking for members of the third team – Wiroj Saibutr, 36 and a man named Kiat, who is in his 30s.

Another two alleged accomplices, identified as Charan and Samart Popbo-ngern, were apprehended in the Khok Kham precinct jurisdiction in Samut Sakhon.

MEDIA ORGANISATIONS nationwide will step up measures against a proposed media regulation bill by submitting an open letter to members of the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) voicing their opposition on Thursday.

The move comes after the media reform committee of the NRSA insisted yesterday it would continue to push the contentious bill despite the media’s call to drop the draft.

“The bill is a severe threat towards media freedom in reporting news and scrutinising the state’s power as well as the public’s right to access news and information,” Thepchai Yong, president of the Confederation of Thai Journalists, said in response to the latest move by the NRSA media panel.

Thepchai said he and 30 media organisations would submit a letter to all NRSA members via the vice chairman of the NRSA, Alongkorn Polaboot, at Parliament on Thursday.

ACM Kanit Suwannnet, head of the media reform committee, said yesterday the panel would present the draft to the NRSA’s whip on Thursday. He insisted the bill was in the best interests of the media.

The controversy of the bill involves its key feature – a so-called “media professional council”, whose composition would include the permanent secretaries of the finance, culture and digital economy ministries as well as the Office of the Prime Minister. The media fears the four permanent secretaries would represent political interests and open the door to interference and control of the media. “The permanent secretary is supposed to be scrutinised by the media, but ironically the bill allows officials to control and punish media,” Thepchai said.

However, Kanit said at a press conference that the committee aimed to bring efficiency and balance to the media.

‘Same as a pilot’s licence’

In response to concerns about the proposal to issue and revoke licences for media organisations and journalists, Kanit said a professional council would be responsible, while the licensing idea would bring the country in line with international standards and certify organisations according to professional standards.

“It is the same as a pilot or engineer’s licence,” Kanit said.

Thepchai countered that the media profession needed people from various educational backgrounds, unlike pilots or engineers, so that they would not be under government control.

“More importantly, no one should be allowed to set standards for the media’s news reporting, expression of opinion or scrutiny to please those in power,” he said.

He also countered Kanit’s claim that the panel had met and discussed the issue with media representatives, saying the media had sent a clear message and strongly opposed the bill whenever they had met with the committee.

Kanit said he had discussed the issue with media representatives and explained that the committee’s makeup would be in line with research by the Thailand Development Research Institute, which suggested a professional council should be made up of members from the private and public sectors.

The main role of such a council would be to improve media professional and living standards as well as to make sure the media’s work was appreciated, he said.

However, the vice president of the media reform committee, Pisit Pao-in, conceded that there was a chance the media would be regulated by state authorities.

The professional council would have to intervene if media professionals or organisations fail to comply with a code of conduct, he said.

However, he said regulations would adhere to a hierarchical process in accordance with the draft bill.

It would be the responsibility of media organisation to regulate their subordinates and deal with journalists or companies following complaints, Pisit said. The professional council would be the final authority in terms of regulation, he added.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said the junta had never thought about controlling the media but wanted outlets to perform their duties honestly and report the truth.