- Published: 12/10/2012 at 12:00 AM
- Writer: Aekarach Sattaburuth
Plodprasop Suraswadi, head of the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC) said he asked Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra to attend the commission's meeting to settle the sandbag conflict as suggested by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The discussion will be "academic," said Mr Plodprasop, who is also Science Minister. "I hope the BMA will present facts about the issue. I personally insist that what the BMA has been doing is technically wrong."
The disagreement between Mr Plodprasop and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration came to a head on Tuesday when the head of the WFMC ordered the BMA to remove all sandbags stuffed in the city's drains within 15 days.
The Bangkok governor refused, saying the city's drains are under his sole jurisdiction.
Mr Plodprasop said the sandbags disrupt water drainage, but the BMA claims the sandbags are part of the city's flood prevention measures and are needed to block water from canals during the high tide.
That argument isn't valid, according to Mr Plodprasop, who said all canals in Bangkok are at low levels after water was released in preparation for heavy rainfall.
The BMA's deputy governor Wallop Suwandee told the radio programme, Inside Thailand, the use of sandbags to block water is a simple method to cope with floods in small, specific areas.
"Areas in Bangkok are of different height," he said. "Srinakarintara Road, for example, is lower than the motorway.
"When it rains, water flows down from the motorway to flood the road. That is why the BMA uses sandbags to prevent water from the higher drains to flow into the road.
"After that, we pump out to nearby canals both the water on Srinakarintara Road and the water that was blocked by the sandbags."
In parliament yesterday, Mr Plodprasop said he had no intention of confusing the public in questioning the BMA's sandbag technique. He was replying on the prime minister's behalf to a query by Democrat MP Thana Chirawinij.
Mr Plodprasop said he only tried to find out who put sandbags, cement blocks and rocks into the city's drains, which could have been considered an attempt to sabotage City Hall after deputy Bangkok governor Theerachon Manomaiphibool put the question to the public.
Mr Plodprasop said he would apologise to the BMA and follow its advice if it was proved there was a misunderstanding on his part. If it turns out he is right, the BMA must remove the sandbags, or he would take action.
He insisted stuffing sandbags into the drains is a mistake because broken bags could clog the system. A better method, he said, would be to build bunkers around the drains.
Prompong Nopparit, the Pheu Thai Party's spokesman, said the BMA has seven days to remove the sandbags from the drains. If City Hall fails to do so, he will file a negligence charge with the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Share your thoughts
- Discussion 1 : 12/10/2012 at 05:07 PM
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Musashi,D2 : The educated,hard-working,tax-paying Bangkokians vote competent people into office while you in the north and north-east vote for 300 baht and unsustainable populist policies.
And raving about wealthy families and big titles ? Don't throw stones when you live in a house of glass,my dear.
- Discussion 2 : 12/10/2012 at 02:31 PM
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At least he has the guts to apologize. A positive step forward, I'll give him credit for that. Other than that too much idiotic ideas and false accusations.
- Discussion 3 : 12/10/2012 at 10:32 AM
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Cannot help to wonder if the Science Minister is an engineer or has any qualifications to be in that position other than perceived loyalty to the fugitive and his party. The BMA plan makes sense, when the drain pipes are already full to capacity, water will come out of the drains, not flow into it.
- Discussion 4 : 12/10/2012 at 10:01 AM
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BMA knows what it best for the flood prevention. He is looking for mistakes at BMA technique without thinking it would back fire at him.
Prompong Nopparit, the Pheu Thai Party's spokesman, said the BMA has seven days to remove the sandbags from the drains. If City Hall fails to do so, he will file a negligence charge with the National Anti-Corruption Commission. its a priceless accusation , PR stunt for this Prompong .
- Discussion 5 : 12/10/2012 at 09:41 AM
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Bangkok Post should start posting the qualifications and education levels of these ministers. I bet the public would find out there is a boat load of unqualified people in these important positions.
- Discussion 6 : 12/10/2012 at 09:30 AM
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Using barriers at times to block reverse flow is a valid concept, however using sandbags to create such barriers is stupid. Thus they are both right and wrong. Now they need to work together to come up with a real solution, a large scale equivalent of a non return valve. Which incidentally is not rocket science, such devices have existed for millennia.
- Discussion 7 : 12/10/2012 at 08:39 AM
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I hope Prod will have an academic discussion soon on how towing a bridge with a bunch of small tugboats speeds up the flow of a river. In my opinion, if any persons, Minister of Science & Technology or otherwise, fails to understand that "bridge towing" is like peeing into the ocean, and hope to raise sea level, therefore, which is an absolute waste of time and money. Such person's words carry no creditability at all when it comes to criticizing BMA's flood prevention technique.
- Discussion 8 : 12/10/2012 at 07:50 AM
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No one believes a word Plodprasod says, after his faux paux last year mis-informing flooded public. It was while he was in charge of the Night Safari project that they decided to put exotic meat on their restaurant menu to match all the animals in their zoo, priceless!
- Discussion 9 : 12/10/2012 at 07:26 AM
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"The discussion will be "academic," said Mr Plodprasop"
"I personally insist that what the BMA has been doing is technically wrong"
The second statement following immediately after the first is NOT academic. If you want to discuss in academic manner, you can have your hypothesis (the BMA did something wrong), but at the same time you must be open for the possibility that your hypothesis might be disproved (and not instisting that you are right).
- Discussion 10 : 12/10/2012 at 07:06 AM
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Come on lets be honest. The whole thing was just a huge PR stunt, hopping to get more vote in the up comming elections. Well Mr Plodprasop, it backfire in to your face. I guess you will have to come up with something else.
- Discussion 11 : 12/10/2012 at 05:45 AM
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".. simple method to cope with floods in small, specific areas." should read as:
".. simple method to cope with floods in small, specific areas housing certain high profile wealthy families with big titles to their names and who didn't want to wet their feet."
- Discussion 12 : 12/10/2012 at 04:37 AM
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I wish Prod was a Minister of Logics & Reasoning, instead of Science & Technology. If the underlying technique employed by BMA failed to produce expected result, it was the people of BKK, who elected their own Governor, who would suffer, and they can express their displeasure during the next election. I wish Prod was this concerned about last year's flooding catastrophe, where more than 800 people lost their lives, devastating our industrial communities to the point of pushing our GDP into negative territory. I hope Prod will soon stop wasting the valuable time of MBA, and learn to cooperate with them in the future. I am sure if BMA can't handle their problems, they would give Prod a call.
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