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.