Thailand begins gas pipeline construction despite protests
Thailand begins gas pipeline construction despite protests
Sutin Wannabovorn, Associated Press, Talingchan, Thailand
Thailand began the long-delayed construction of a gas pipeline with neighboring Malaysia on Tuesday, despite protests by villagers who fear the project will cause environmental and economic damage.
About 400 police officers stood by as dozens of bulldozers and workers were trucked to this village in Thailand's southern Songkhla province to start groundwork for a planned gas plant.
The plant is part of the proposed 352-kilometer (215-mile) pipeline - a US$1.5 billion joint venture by Thai government's oil company PTT and Malaysia's state-owned Petronas to tap an offshore gas field in the Gulf of Thailand.
The project was initiated in 1997, but has been delayed repeatedly due to protests - some of them violent - by local residents and environmental groups.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who came to power in February 2001, has said he will not allow the protests to stop the project. He also threatened to take legal action against protesters who try to stir unrest in the area.
"After the prime minister gave the crystal clear message that the project has to go ahead and provincial authorities have provided the facilities and security ... we believe the project will be completed as scheduled two years from today," said Pisal Pechrungruang of the Trans-Thai Malaysia Co.
The pipeline is slated to pass through five villages on the Thai coast. A gas separation plant and a 50,000-acre (20,000- hectare) industrial zone are to be built in Talingchan village, 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Bangkok.
Activists and villagers say water that flows into the sea after cooling the plant could harm the gulf's ecology, and that mercury released could kill fish.
The government says it has conducted environmental studies and is satisfied that the ecosystem would be safe.
On Tuesday, bulldozers began clearing the area while some 200 workers began erecting a 10-kilometer (6-mile) fence around the gas separation site covering an area of about 360 acres (145 hectares).
Opponents of the project, who have been camped out on the nearby Lan Hoysiab beach since 1999, said they would continue to protest peacefully. But their numbers have dwindled from thousands of people in recent weeks to about 100 on Tuesday.
Sulaiman Madyuzoe, a protest leader, said companies involved in the project have employed "dirty tactics" by bribing demonstrators to abandon their cause.
"We will continue our peaceful protest until the government listens to us and stops the project," said one of the protesters, Alisa Malae, adding that the activists had withdrawn earlier threats to torch the facility if it is built.
"We will not burn down the plan or initiate any violence," she said.