Thailand asks for more time over pipeline plan<\/p>\n
Agence-France Presse, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Thailand has asked Malaysia for more time to consider whether
\nto go ahead with building a controversial cross-border pipeline,
\nThai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Monday.<\/p>\n
After a meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
\nAlbar in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai, Surakiart said the
\ngovernment needed to carry out more public hearings and
\nconsultations on the project.<\/p>\n
\"I told him that the government will take time to listen to
\npublic opinion,\" he told reporters after the two-hour talks,
\naccording to ministry officials in the Thai capital.<\/p>\n
Surakiart added that he did not expect the process would take
\ntoo long.<\/p>\n
The joint natural gas pipeline is due to go into operation
\nnext year. Thailand and Malaysia are expected to start pumping
\ngas from a seabed site along their border in the Gulf of Thailand
\nin mid-2002.<\/p>\n
The gas will come ashore at Songkhla, Thailand and then be
\nsent by pipeline to both countries. The first stage of the
\nproject is expected to cost one billion US dollars.<\/p>\n
Officials from a joint development organization for the
\nproject say there could be 25 years of gas in the reserve.<\/p>\n
But the plan has been stalled by strong opposition from Thai
\nenvironmental groups who say the pipeline will destroy fishing
\ngrounds and cause other ecological damage.<\/p>\n
A Thai government spokesman said earlier this month that the
\nauthorities would take another three months to decide whether to
\nconstruct the pipeline.<\/p>\n
The delay was announced after Prime Minister Thaksin
\nShinawatra went to the region to listen to 3,000 angry opponents
\nof the pipeline and later met 100 leading supporters of the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
During Monday's one-day meeting, which focused on economic
\naffairs, the two foreign ministers also agreed to extended the
\nopening hours of the Hat Yai border checkpoint due to a sharp
\nincrease in tourist traffic over the last month.<\/p>\n
The two sides also agreed to consider adjusting the operating
\nhours of other crossings including Sungai-Kolok and Padang Besar.
\nThey resolved as well to cooperate more closely on HIV-AIDS
\ntreatment and to discuss better transport links to facilitate
\nMalaysian trade to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.<\/p>",
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