Environmental Impact Assessment for Tsunami
memorial
Political
changes have left a tsunami memorial project in
Khao Lak Lamru national park mired in uncertainty
as the government wants to correct problems left
by the previous administration. Apinan Poshyananda,
director of the Office of Contemporary Art and
Culture in charge of the project, said the interim
government had suspended construction of the the
memorial while environmental impact assessment
(EIA) studies and public hearings for the 600-million-baht
project, initiated by the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra
government, were underway.
However,
a three-million-baht budget set aside for the
EIA process has yet to be approved.
''The
project may take longer as it involves construction
in a national park. A careful study of the environmental
situation is needed,'' he said.
Mr
Apinan said the memorial would consist of five
main components _ the memorial ground, museum,
tsunami study centre, an early warning centre
and visitor complex.
The
Thaksin government proposed the project last year
as part of its plan for an annual high-profile
commemorative event.
It
also set aside a 1.5-billion-baht budget for the
project, before cutting that back to 600 million
baht.
Fifty
million baht alone was spent on the design selection
process which lasted several months.
The
budget was for promotional campaigns and appointing
international judges, most of them world-renowned
architects and museum curators.
To
hasten the process, the previous government approved
the memorial construction without obtaining a
permit for use of the national park from the National
Park Committee. The decision met with fierce criticism
from conservationists and scholars.
Under
the original schedule, construction of the memorial
would have begun around now, in time for the next
tsunami anniversary on Dec 26, 2007.
Little
has been done at the project site at Hat Lek Beach,
except for a new shortcut. Someone has put in
a small forest track cutting from the main road
to the beach.
Jedkamchorn
Phromyoti, president of the Association of Siam
Architecture, one of the agencies on the design
screening panel, urged the government to clear
the air about the project.
The
Spanish team, which won the design competition
with its ''Mountain of Remembrance'' workpiece,
had asked about the delay, as had the Spanish
embassy.
''No
one knows what will happen. We have no idea what
the current government thinks about the project,''
he said.
Asst
Prof Ariya Aruninta, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn
University's faculty of architecture, said she
disagreed with the choice of site, saying no construction
should be allowed in a national park.
Such
a large-scale project also went against the concept
of the memorial which was to serve as a reminder
of the loss of human life to nature.
Story
from Bangkok
Post, 29th December 2006.
Comment
on Environmental Impact Assessment for Tsunami
Memorial
The
fact that this construction project in a National
Park has at least been postponed pending an environmental
impact assessment represents at least a small
hope that the trend for large construction projects
in National Parks under the last government may
be halted. Hopefully other natural areas may benefit
from similar sentiments in the future and there
will be no further developments like the ridiculous
structures built in Khao Yai National park by
the previous administration.
Nick
Upton, 1st January 2007.
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