PM Visits Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi

RATCHABURI, Nov 11 (TNA) – Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha presided over the ceremony to present certificates of permission for land utilization to Ratchaburi governor, which will allow local communities to earn a living on the allocated land in the community forest project. The prime minister’s field trip began today in Ratchaburi before he is heading to Kanchanaburi, where he will preside over a Cabinet retreat tomorrow. He met about 4,000 local people at the gymnasium hall of the Ratchaburi Provincial Administrative Organization and gave financial aid to representatives of farmers under the income guarantee scheme for crops such as rice and oil palm. He also went to the old Lao Tak Lak Floating Market in Damnoen Saduak district to follow up progress in development of tourism routes along canal networks and agrotourism. Locals proposed the use of electric boats to reduce pollution there. The prime minister will then head to Kanchanaburi province to observe the project to regulate the rafts along the Kwai Yai River and to open a new housing project for local people in order to solve river intrusion problem. He will later visit the 83-year-old paper mill, planned to be developed into a cultural conservation and historical area for tourism before joining celebrants to launch a Krathong banana leaf basket in the Loy Krathong candle light festival this evening. On Nov 12, Gen Prayut will chair a cabinet retreat at Kanchanaburi Rajabhat University and a meeting on the economic and social development of the lower central provincial cluster (Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Suphan Buri). Local authorities in Kanchanaburi plan to seek the budget for development of the province’s tourist attractions and drought management. (TNA)