Government:There will be no great floods in Thailand this year

BANGKOK, April 25 (TNA) - The government’s Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development (SCRFD) has confirmed that there will not be any great flooding in Thailand this year and international business operators appear to now confident in the administration's flood prevention plans, in the wake of the country's massive flooding late last year. In his speech today on the direction of the Thai economy on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Thai Television Company Limited and the 35th anniversary of the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand (MCOT), now a listed company, SCRFD Chair Virabongsa Ramangkura, who is also a former Thai deputy prime minister, said that the Thai government is moving in the right direction in flood prevention; so, he believed that there would not be any repeated severe flooding in the country this year. Virabongsa acknowledged that the Thai government is spending over 350 billion baht on flood prevention projects, and that the implementation of the projects needs to take some times. Virabongsa insisted that the official efforts, including dyke improvement and waterway dredging, could prevent any great flooding in Thailand this year. According to the deputy premier, international investors appear to be now more confident in Thailand, as it has cost the government only 350 million baht to raise its planned 50-billion-baht flood insurance fund,showing that the investors are returning to the Thai economy and the insurance fund may be unnecessary in the future. The former deputy premier said apart from the flood prevention systems, the Thai government is improving national infrastructure, including railway and aviation systems, to serve business expansion in the country. As the United States and European countries have suffered from economic problems for 4-5 years so far and investment projects have, thus, surged in China, India, Russia and Brazil, whose economies will likely keep growing considerably over the next 15 years, the former Thai deputy premier assessed that the economic growth of these emerging countries will then benefit the Thai economy. The SCRFD chief suggested that Thailand further improve its economic systems and infrastructure, especially its information technology (IT), to keep pace with the changing regional and global situation. (TNA)