Government gives green light to coal-fired power plant in Thai South

BANGKOK, February 17 (TNA) - A government panel has approved a plan to carry out the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Krabi Province in the Thai South for the sake of long-run energy security in the region. Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha told journalists of the decision on Friday, after chairing a meeting of the National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC) at Bangkok's Government House. The prime minister said that his government had conducted studies on the project, which was initiated in 2007, for two years, taking into consideration the rationale, worthwhileness and technological safety of the plant into consideration. The prime minister pointed out that energy demand in the Thai South has kept rising higher than other regions in the country, but there are less energy production sources than others. The prime minister stressed that the construction of the new power plant is, thus, necessary to solve the problem of frequent blackouts and to create energy security in the region. Regarding an opposition to the construction of the coal-fired power plant by local civil society networks, the prime minister has, meanwhile, assigned the Ministry of Energy to create public understanding in concerned areas.(TNA)