Governor: Flooded farms in Ayutthaya dry by mid-January 2012

BANGKOK, December 22 (TNA) - Governor of Ayutthaya Province Wittaya Phiewphong says that remaining flooded farmlands in his central province should be dried out by January 15, 2012. According to the governor, local farmers can now reuse some 200,000 rai of totally-flooded 300,000-rai farmlands in the central Thai province. The governor noted that he is seeking a parliamentary approval of an additional 6-billion-baht state budget for his province's post-flooded rehabilitation plans covering social, economic and agricultural aspects, on top of an initial 2-billion-baht state fund earlier disbursed to Ayutthaya. The governor told reporters that the state budget will also sponsor the construction of a new 20-kilometre floodwall to prevent Ayutthaya's historic sites and prime areas from any repeated inundation in the future, along with a 5,000-baht grant for each flooded household. (TNA)