Bangkok eyed to become "Smart Metro"

BANGKOK, December 22 (TNA) - The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) will carry on its "Smart Metro" plan, under which roadside power poles in Bangkok's focal sites will be all moved underground instead, with the old poles to be presented to other agencies mainly for natural resources and environmental protection purposes. Telling journalists of the policy, MEA Assistant Governor Prasong Kumpradit. said that his agency has, so far, presented 1,344 old roadside power poles to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to support the City Authority's project on the protection and prevention of soil erosion along an about 4.7-kilometer seaside area in the capital's Bang Khun Thian area. Prasong explained that the concrete-made old power poles, which were enclosed inside with iron wires, are durable and can be in their good condition over the next 30 years, as well as bendable about 7-8 centimeters. Besides, MEA has presented its old roadside power poles to other public and private agencies for their use in local social and community projects, covering those on the protection and prevention of soil erosion along riverside or seaside areas in Samut Prakan and other provinces, as well as those on irrigation and infrastructure purposes. According to the MEA assistant governor, his agency will present more old roadside power poles to BMA, as MEA will carry out its "Smart Metro" plan, set by 2021. BMA, meanwhile, needs about 3,600 used power poles for every one-kilometer distance for its project on the protection and prevention of soil erosion in Bang Khun Thian area. (TNA)