The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry launched a “rainmaking” project on Thursday in a bid to ease the scarcity of water across the country.
The project was launched in a special ceremony presided over by Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on at Nakhon Sawan Airport.
Samroeng Sangphuwong, director-general of the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation, said the aim of this nationwide operation is to help farmers and to water forests to prevent fires. He also said that the operation will help refill reservoirs and dams as well as solve dust pollution, especially the problem with PM2.5 fine particles.
The department has set up rainmaking units in 10 provinces in five regions, namely:
Upper North: Chiang Mai and Tak
Lower North: Phrae and Phitsanulok
Central: Nakhon Sawan and Kanchanaburi
Upper Northeast: Udon Thani
Lower Northeast: Buri Ram
East: Chanthaburi
South: Prachuap Khiri Khan
The department is also setting up chemical refilling stations in Khon Kaen and Rayong.
Since February 15, the department has set up four units to monitor the situation and work towards easing the scarcity of water in some areas. It has also sent a helicopter to explore the possibility of forest fires in the North.
The United States has offered to help in renovating one of Thailand’s hidden architectural treasures, a wooden mansion that once belonged to the former ruler of Trang.
US Charge d’Affaires Michael Heath made the offer following his recent visit to the Phraya Ratsadanupradit Mahison Phakdi Museum in the southern province’s Kantang district. He said the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) could be used to help renovate the mansion, which is more than a century old.
Heath said Kantang is a unique showcase of Chinese, Malay and Thai heritage as seen in the local food, shrines and residents, adding that he hoped to see the district bustling with tourists again after the Covid-19 crisis.
He said the US fund had already assisted 20 heritage projects in Thailand, including Lanna traditional houses in Chiang Mai, Phi Man Cave archaeological excavations in Mae Hong Son, and flood protection for Wat Chaiwatthanaram in Ayutthaya.
He added that the AFCP considers projects proposed by the government and private sectors every year.
Phraya Ratsadanupradit Mahison Phakdi has deteriorated after more than 100 years of exposure to tropical weather conditions, according to local reports.
The house is now owned and operated as a museum by the Trang ruler’s descendants, so is not eligible for government funding.
Phraya Ratsadanupradit (1857–1913) was a Thai-Chinese provincial administrator renowned for developing Trang’s agriculture and education system.
The government regulator has ordered insurance companies to honour claims for all Covid-19 inpatient treatment from March 1, when the disease was removed from the government Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) scheme.
The Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) said claims must be honoured for treatment received at hospitals, hospitels and field hospitals.
However, the order does not cover treatment under the home and community isolation system.
The Thai Life Assurance Association and Thai General Insurance Association had been told to inform their members of the new order, OIC secretary-general Suthipol Taweechaikarn said.
Under UCEP, Covid patients received three days of free treatment at any facility – public or private – before being switched to hospital treatment under their state health insurance scheme. But after March 1, those who test positive for Covid-19 but do not require critical care have to pay their own medical bills if they choose to seek treatment at private hospitals. Non-critical patients can still receive free Covid-19 treatment under the home/community isolation system.
OIC said the order would solve the problem of some private hospitals refusing to treat Covid-19 patients as inpatients if their symptoms do not fit the criteria for insurance claims stipulated by the Thai Life Assurance Association.
The construction of a shortcut road connecting Highway no.3097 to Nakhon Pathom Government Complex to solve traffic congestion is 74 per cent complete and expect to finish within this year, said Apirat Chaiwongnoi, director-general of the Department of Highways on Thursday.
“The project aims to build a shortcut leading to Nakhon Pathom Government Complex under the budget of 440 million baht,” he said. “Currently there is only one road leading to the government complex that has only two traffic lanes passing through the city. The widening of said road is restricted by surrounding commercial buildings.”
Apirat said that once complete, the shortcut road will greatly help reduce traffic congestion during rush hours and help facilitate people wanting to contact government agencies at the government complex.
The shortcut road is 3.217 kilometers long and starts from the intersection between highways no.3097 and no.375 and terminates at Nakhon Pathom Government Complex in Muang district. The project includes the construction of an asphalt road with 6-8 traffic lanes, four reinforced concrete bridges, a water draining system, lighting and traffic sign installations.
Ministry of Public Health reported on Friday (March 4) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 23,834 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 146 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 54, while 19,351 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 758,561.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 2,981,996 – 2,731,029 of whom have recovered, 227,843 are still in hospitals and 23,124 have died.
Separately, another 71,198 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 24,486 their second shot and 112,986 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 124,396,024.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 442.41 million on Friday, 375.03 million of whom have recovered, 61.38 million are active cases (73,184 in severe condition) and 6 million have died (up by 7,567).
Thailand ranks 33rd in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 80.84 million, followed by India with 42.95 million, Brazil with 28.91 million, France with 22.9 million and the UK with 19.07 million.
The Racha Thewa Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO) in Samut Prakan province is once again in the eye of a storm over another controversial purchase.
The TAO on Thursday invited electronic bids for the procurement of 720 solar-powered street lamps, with the median price set at around 68.27 million baht, or 94,821 baht apiece.
The bidding specification requires that each of the street lamps must be topped with a sculpture of Kinnari, the mythical half-bird, half-woman.
The Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT) estimated that since 2013, the Racha Thewa TAO’s Kinnari lampposts have cost almost 1 billion baht.
On Thursday, the group reported on its Facebook page “Watchdog ACT” that the results of Racha Thewa TAO’s e-bidding for the new set of Kinnari lampposts would be unveiled on March 11.
“Again, they make another purchase. We must closely watch this new purchase project,” the Watchdog ACT wrote in its Facebook post.
Last year, the Racha Thewa TAO was accused of overpaying for the purchase of 6,773 solar-powered Kinnari poles — costing 642.6 million baht, or 94,884 baht each — between 2019 and 2021.
The controversial purchase came under the scrutiny of the National Anti-Corruption Commission although the Racha Thewa TAO’s executives denied any irregularities or deviation from regulations.
Only one company was involved in the procurement and installation of those decorative poles along the streets in many areas under the TAO’s jurisdiction.
Thailand’s exports to Myanmar through the southern Ranong province have seen an increase following the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Nit Ouitekkeng, deputy chairman of the Ranong Chamber of Commerce, said on Thursday that border trade between the province and Myanmar’s Kawthoung town became more active as the Russia-Ukraine war threatened to have a global economic fallout.
More orders for consumer products and necessary goods came from the other side of the border, he said.
At Ranong’s border checkpoint, cargo container trucks formed a long line, waiting to cross into the western neighbouring country.
Ranong mainly supplies products from Thailand to the middle part of Myanmar.
Cement and construction materials have seen an increase in orders from Myanmar, in addition to consumer products, according to Nit.
He said there seemed to be a concern that besides Myanmar’s political violence and the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest conflict could lead to a shortage of goods.
Products from Thailand having high demand in Myanmar are: fuel and lubricants, steel pipes, cement, metal products, fishing nets, and energy drinks.
About 30 per cent of the Thai population — or over 20 million people — are suffering from obesity, and the problem is worsening in children and teenagers, an expert warned on Thursday.
Assistant Professor Dr Sanit Wichansawakun, a lecturer at the Clinical Nutrition Division of Thammasat University’s Faculty of Medicine, said that a nationwide survey between 2019 and 2020 had found that 42.2 per cent of Thais aged 15 and above are obese, while 39.4 per cent have a potbelly.
Bangkok has the highest percentage of people with obesity — 47 per cent — and as many as 65.3 per cent of women in the city were found to have a potbelly, she said.
“The problem raises the risk of non-communicable diseases [NCDs] like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart diseases and cancer,” Sanit said at a panel discussion held at the Miracle Grand Convention Hotel.
The event was held as part of a campaign called “World Obesity Day: Everybody Needs to Act”.
The organisers were the Public Health Ministry’s Bureau of Non-Communicable Diseases, the Association of Thai NCD Alliance, the Royal College of Paediatricians, and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
World Obesity Day is observed globally on March 4.
Professor Dr Ladda Mo-suwan, an executive member of the Association of Thai NCD Alliance, said that obesity also affected a large group of Thai babies aged below five. In 1992, it was found that 9.2 per cent of infants in this age group were fat, up from 8.8 per cent a year earlier.
As many as 12.4 per cent of children aged 6-14 were obese last year, up from 11.7 per cent in 2018, she said.
The doctor warned that obesity in people at a young age would raise their risk of NCDs four times higher than those with no weight problem. She suggested reduced intakes of sweets and oily foods, as well as proper exercising.
The acting US ambassador to Thailand on Thursday witnessed an ongoing operation to locate a US military plane that crashed in Lampang province 77 years ago to try to find its missing pilot.
Charge d’Affaires Michael Heath, the acting US ambassador, visited Ban Mae Kua village in Tambon Mae Kua in the Sobprap district of Lampang where a team of nine specialists from the US Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) are working with local residents to dig a suspected crash site.
The nine DPAA specialists were sent from Hawaii to work with the villagers to try to locate a P-38 plane after the DPAA received tips that three of its military planes, which went missing during World War II, might have crashed in the North of Thailand.
The search operation in Ban Mae Kua began after the US received tips that a P-38 plane had crashed in a paddy field in front of the village about 77 years ago.
Heath led a delegation of Thai reporters and Thai government representatives to witness the digging site.
The delegation was received by Major Brian W Smith, head of the DPAA search team.
Smith said the team had got tips that convinced them the spot was the crash site of the P-38 plane of the US Air Force.
He said a 98-year-old woman remembered the day the plane crashed. She was 21 years old at the time.
Local villagers also informed the team that some parts of the plane were found at the spot but they were not sure whether the villagers had cremated or buried the body of the pilot 77 years ago.
Smith said the US government was receiving full support from the villagers for the search operation. The owner of the paddy field also allowed the DPAA team to set up a base and to dig on the land.
The DPAA team hired 30 villagers to help in the digging. Smith said a week after the digging started, that the team had found some parts of the P-38 plane. A part carried wordings that it was made in America but the team was not certain which part of the plane it belonged to.
Heath said although more than 70 years had passed, the US government would not stop its mission to locate all missing troops to try to find and bring them back home.
The acting ambassador said the search operation signified the good ties and cooperation between Thailand the US.
“I would like to thank the community, local officials and the Thai government on behalf of the US and American people for helping us carry out an important duty and to honour the promise our country has made,” Heath said.
He said some 81,600 US troops are still listed as missing in action since World War II and the US government would do its best to try to locate them and bring them back home.
“More importantly, this was the first operation in Thailand since 2007. In July 2018, the DPAA received information that three US planes that went missing during the World War II were found in the North of Thailand,” Heath said.
He said the information led to the research by historians and US and Thai volunteers, who also received information from eyewitnesses, and eventually led to the digging operation.
Thailand on Wednesday sought an immediate cessation of violence and armed hostilities and the resumption of dialogue between Russia and Ukraine to end the war that has left thousands dead and injured.
Thai Ambassador to the United Nations Suriya Chindawongse made the remarks during an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Thailand joined in the resolution demanding Russia halt its aggression against Ukraine.
The resolution was supported by 141 counties with five nations voting against it and 35 others abstaining.
Apart from Russia, four other countries – Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and Syria – voted against the resolution.
The 35 nations that abstained included China, India and South Africa. Asean members Vietnam and Laos also abstained.
Thailand’s statement said:
“Thailand is gravely concerned with the worsening hostilities and violence as a result of the use of military force in Ukraine, which has led to loss of life, including of innocent civilians and destruction of property and civilian infrastructure.”
“The Asean Foreign Ministers issued a statement on the situation in Ukraine on February 26, 2022. Since then, armed hostilities continue and casualties including those of civilians, continue to rise.
“The humanitarian situation of refugees and those fleeing fighting is particularly worrying. Thailand commends Ukraine’s neighbouring countries and other states for their prompt actions in mobilising assistance to those in pressing humanitarian needs. On our part, Thailand shall do our utmost in addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of the affected citizens, directly and in partnership with likeminded international organisations.
“Thailand adheres to the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and international law, in particular respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of states, and refraining from the use of force or threat of use of force against another state. We thus call for the immediate cessation of violence and armed hostilities. The escalation of the situation will cause wide impacts on the world, aggravate humanitarian conditions and threaten the well-being of the global economy, hampering the fragile recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Thailand thus renews our call for dialogue and negotiations in order to find a peaceful settlement and sustainable solutions through the United Nations, regional mechanisms and other mutually acceptable modalities. In this regard, we welcome the recent efforts at bilateral talks between the parties concerned and look forward to them bearing fruitful results,” the statement said.
“As a peace-loving country, Thailand has an abiding faith in the goodwill among nations and the compassion of humanity. We will, therefore, continue to hope that the path of peace, reconciliation and good-neighbourliness will ultimately prevail,” the statement concluded.
Heath said although more than 70 years had passed, the US government would not stop its mission to locate all missing troops to try to find and bring them back home.
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