Thai PM orders quick flood prevention measures in flood-prone provinces

CHAI NAT, THAILAND, June 13 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered authorities in all provinces standing in floodways to quickly complete flood prevention measures in their respective areas within next month, as the government has already allocated budgets for their tasks, amid the government-appointed Water and Flood Policy Committee (WFPC)'s assurance that, unlike the situation late last year, Bangkok and surrounding provinces will not be severely flooded this year. On the third day of her flood prevention inspection trip this week, Yingluck had a teleconference today with governors of six midstream provinces, namely Kamphaeng Phet, Phitsanulok, Pichit, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, and Chai Nat, at which she ordered them to complete flood prevention measures by July 2012 and assigned the military to help them accomplish the task in time, insisting that the governors are to speed up their procurement procedures to complete the flood prevention on schedule. In upstream provinces, the prime minister instructed that the construction of semi-permanent and permanent dams be also complete by next month and vetiver grass and trees be planted as long-term flood prevention. The Thai premier then inspected the dredging of Bueng Boraphet lake and the construction of dykes along the Chao Phraya River in Nakhon Sawan province. Meanwhile, Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi and Anont Sanitwong na Ayutthaya, both are members of the WFPC, told a press conference that the Thai government has now found a water retention area near the Lam Chuad sluice gate and concerned agencies will then use it as a model flood solution, and that, given a single command system currently, the government will be able to cope with even a highest amount of rainwater and to, thus, fully prevent any repeated severe flooding in Bangkok and surrounding Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces this year. (TNA)