Oversight of RID yet to be decided: PM

Officials studying whether to make the Royal Irrigation Department part of proposed new water agency

It has not been decided whether the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) will become part of the proposed new agency to take charge of water management, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday.

Relevant agencies would have to study the pros and cons before making a decision, the premier said. She had asked agencies to study regulations regarding the establishment of the new water agency, which could be either a ministry or a department.

She said the government wanted to set up an integrated water-management system.

The government would have to talk with agencies about whether it would be possible to set up the water agency in October, as proposed by Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi.

The Royal Irrigation Department is supervised by the Agriculture Ministry. Its duties and responsibilities include activities aimed at collecting, storing, controlling, distributing, draining and allocating water for agriculture, energy, household consumption or industrial purposes; implementation of activities related to prevention of damage from water and safety of dams; and implementation of land consolidation for agriculture nationwide.

In related news, Plodprasop, chairman of the Water and Flood Management Commission, said yesterday during the "Yingluck Government Meets the People" weekly TV programme that the government could complete its Bt350-billion dam, reservoir and floodway construction project for flood prevention in five years.

The government would draw up bidding conditions for the Bt350-billion project this week, he said, adding that details of the project, including an environmental impact assessment, would be finished in two weeks and contracts would be signed in April.

Cabinet has already approved six groups of private companies that initially passed the criteria to participate in the bidding. They will have to propose an investment plan, construction period and bidding amount.

He expected that construction at some sites would be finished in one year and that the whole project would be complete within five years.

Plodprasop vowed that the government would compensate people affected by construction and minimise the impact on them as much as possible. He urged those who will be required to move to make way for construction sites to keep in mind the benefits of the project for the public, and to remember the two million people affected by the 2011 floods.

The country lost Bt1.4 trillion in that crisis, which affected one fifth of the Kingdom's total area. The flood-prevention construction project would help prevent losses and damage for the majority of Thais, the minister said.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/10/oversight-of-rid-yet-to-be-decided-pm/