Thai PM confident in handling water situation this year

BANGKOK, August 31 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has expressed her confidence that her administration will be able to effectively handle the water situation this year without any repeated massive flooding, like the one in late 2011. Speaking at an event on Friday on her government's water management plan for 2012 and on the inauguration of a government-sponsored grand water exhibition in Bangkok from August 31-September 2, Yingluck insisted on her administration's determination to solve the country's flood problems in both the urgent short-term and even the long-term through appropriate water management in upstream, mid-stream and downstream areas, covering well management of water levels at local dams and dredging of rivers and canals to ensure swift flows of water to the sea. Yingluck acknowledged that her government's water management plan, which should also address the country's repeated drought problem parallelly, also includes the construction of three-layer flood prevention dykes around the country's major economic areas, the installation of more water pumps at flood-prone zones and the arrangement of water retention areas covering some 20,000 rais of land. According to the prime minister, her administration's water management and flood prevention plans in 2012 are based on the 2Ps2Rs, which stand for prevention, preparation, resolution and rehabilitation. Thai Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat, on the other hand, said he believed that an official test on water discharge from September 5-7 should not affect Bangkokians, given the government's water management plans which have been in good place. The defence minister noted if any problem occurred during the three-day water release test in both the east and the west sides of Bangkok, handled by the government-appointed Water and Flood Resources Management Committee or WFRMC, then only 30 per cent of the water would be released, cushioned by a well control of sluice gates functions and an improved water management funded by sufficient state budgets. Meanwhile, authorities in many Thai provinces, including those in the South and the North are speeding up drainage in a bid to prevent floods, as the Meteorological Department has predicted downpours in some 70 per cent of the country's northern regioon next week; while drought has continued in the Thai Northeast. (TNA)