Around 1,000 people from Satun and nearby provinces gathered at Pak Bara beach in La-ngu district, the site of the Pak Bara deepwater seaport project. They demanded that the first public hearing, scheduled to be held at Ban Pakbang School on Thursday, be cancelled and a proper Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) be carried out.

The activists announced that they would wait until 9pm for official confirmation from the authorities about cancellation of the public hearing. If they failed to do so, the protesters would force their way into the venue.

The groups said confirmation about the cancellation must given to them in writing with the signature of the head of the project’s public hearing.

Meanwhile, environmental groups that had marched on foot from Songkhla arrived at the Pak Bara deepwater seaport site to join local groups in Satun protesting the Songkhla-Satun Landbridge Project, which includes Pak Bara seaport, Songkhla 2 seaport, and the railroad link.

Rak Pak Bara (Love Pak Bara) Network deputy chief Kraiwut Chusakun stated that the first public hearing on this project must be stopped and an SEA conducted on proper development choices for the region.

“The entire process of EHIA [Environmental and Health Impact Assessment] study and public participation in this project is unacceptable, because local people cannot access all information on this project,” Kraiwut said. He also said the study was biased and excluded many studies on the impact to the pristine ecosystem of Pak Bara Sea.

He said that not only the natural resources of the area such as coral reefs or the economic benefit from a healthy ecosystem were not included in the study, the EHIA also did not present the full picture of the Songkhla-Satun Landbridge Project, which would helped the local people realise the full impact of this mega-project.

“We have already sent the petition to the Satun governor last week to cancel tomorrow’s public hearing and we hope the authorities will listen to us,” he said.

Somboon Khamhang, secretary-general of the Non-Government Organisation Committee on Rural Development in the South, stressed that opposition by the locals and the activists to the land bridge and deepwater seaport projects, did not mean they were against development.

Somboon said they were only resisting harmful development, which only benefited some investors but destroyed the livelihood of people and damaged the environment and natural resources.