Policy Reference

The Nation 02 December 2009

The Supreme Administrative Court on Wednesday permits 11 Map Ta Phut projects put on hold by a court injunction to go ahead.

Operations of the remaining 65 projects will still be suspended under the court injunction ordered in September.

Bangkok Post 07 January 2010 | Apinya Wipatayotin

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has rejected a local plan to reduce pollution at Map Ta Phut, claiming a "lack of sound measures to tackle industrial pollution".

The Nation 12 January 2010 
 
A final process has begun which is aimed at ending the legal deadlock halting construction on 64 major industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut area of Rayong province.

The process, of ensuring that health- and environment-related assessments are conducted as required by the Constitution, began after a preliminary selection process was approved yesterday.

The Nation 14 January 2010 | Pongphon Sarnsamak

The governmentappointed panel tasked with resolving Map Ta Phut's environmental problems yesterday urged the public and private sectors and local communities to be sincere and serious in implementing the four measures designed to comply with Article 67 (2) of the Constitution.

Bangkok Post 14 January 2010 | Apinya Wipatayotin

The four-party panel tasked with resolving the Map Ta Phut impasse has set up a technical committee to study the pollution problems at the industrial area and help the government come up with control measures.

Bangkok Post 15 January 2010  

'Lack of trust' led to current impasse

The Map Ta Phut dispute will be resolved within six months but businesses must prepare to deal with tougher environmental regulations, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

The Nation 26 January 2010 | Pongphon Sarnsamak

Private companies will be responsible for any risks they incur while seeking licenses for new projects before the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry comes up with a final list of activities that might have serious environmental impacts, the Federation of Thai Industries said.

Bangkok Post 27 January 2010  

Business leaders yesterday repeated their pleas for the government to speed up the resolution of the Map Ta Phut case, saying the latest court verdict to reject requests to restart 30 projects had severely depressed the investment climate.

The Nation 06 February 2010 | Petchanet Pratruangkrai 

Japanese investors have called for the Thai government to announce a clear road map for solving the Map Ta Phut problem as soon as possible.

They say doing so would ensure investment remained in the Kingdom and that companies affected would have to carry a financial burden from the episode for only six months.

The Nation 02 February 2010 | Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Map Ta Phut four-party panel yesterday set up a subcommittee to study how to revive the buffer zone, which would separate the residential and industrial areas to avoid future crises.

The panel, chaired by former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, has learned that the Map Ta Phut city plan, as conceived by the local authorities, will expire next year. The local authorities are hiring a private consultant to draft a new city plan.

The Nation 10 February 2010 | Pongphon Sarnsamak

The National Economic and Social Development Board will submit its eco-town guidelines to the Joint Public-Private Sector Consultative Committee on February 22.

It hopes they will become the model for Map Ta Phut or a new industrial zone for upstream steel projects.

The Nation 17 February 2010 | Chularat Saengpassa, Hassaya Chartmontree

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is trying to mediate between the Council of State and the four-party panel seeking solutions to the Map Ta Phut deadlock over changes to the panel's draft law to establish an industrial watchdog.

This independent organisation is expected to play a key role in striking a balance between ecological soundness and rapid industrial development."I have already talked to the secretary-general of the Council of State about the matter," Abhisit said yesterday.

The Nation 19 February 2010   

A roadshow led by Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij will leave for Japan on March 11 and spend two days explaining solutions to the Map Ta Phut crisis to the government and investors, a Finance Ministry source said yesterday.

The Nation 07 January 2010 | Nalin Viboonchart 

Despite the global economic recovery, industrial-estate developers are unable to forecast their 2010 business outlook because of the unclear Map Ta Phut situation.

The Nation 06 January 2010 

About 20 villagers from Map Ta Phut were today in Bangkok, asking for participation in the panel.

The Nation 25 December 2009 | Piyanart Srivalo, Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will issue its regulations on health-impact assessments by the end of this month.

These will be used to enable the suspended Map Ta Phut industrial projects to comply with Article 67 of the Constitution.

The Nation 02 December 2009 

All parties are hopeful the Supreme Administrative Court today will clear up confusion over the future of the 76 suspended industrial projects in Map Ta Phut.

Bangkok Post 03 December 2009  

Court ruling keeps 65 projects on hold

Cabinet members will meet urgently today after a court ruling kept in place a suspension order for 65 high-value projects at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong.

Bangkok Post 03 December 2009  

The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled to lift a ban on 11 projects at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate - but to uphold the suspension of 65 others.

Bangkok Post 13 December 2009  

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT PUTS MAP TA PHUT BACK UNDER SCRUTINY

RAYONG : Hundreds of construction workers were evacuated and four hospitalised after a gas leak at Map Ta Phut industrial estate - the second such incident in a week.

The Nation 18 December 2009

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday reiterated his wish to have new environmental rules ready by year-end, saying if the Map Ta Phut crisis could be resolved satisfactorily, it would pave the way for a new industrial-development landscape in Thailand.

Bangkok Post 22 December 2009  

Court to decide fate of Map Ta Phut projects

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has cast doubt on the accuracy of an Industry Ministry estimate of the fiscal damage caused by the suspension of 65 industrial projects at Map Ta Phut.

The Nation 29 December 2009 | Janjira Pongrai  

Pollution Control Department plans air, water campaign for new year

Pollution and environmental problems around the Map Ta Phut industrial area of Rayong have been identified as the top priority of the Pollution Control Department next year.

Bangkok Post 30 December 2009 | Nanchanok Wongsamuth

A total of 20 suspended projects at Map Ta Phut have weak legal grounds for seeking to overturn their court-ordered suspensions, says Industry Minister Charnchai Chairungruang.

The Nation 30 December 2009 | Hassaya Chartmontri

The Cabinet yesterday approved the ministerial regulation concerning the need for environmental impact assessment (EIA) and healthimpact assessment (HIA) reports.

Bangkok Post 29 December 2009 

The cabinet has approved the revised ministerial regulations on the framework for industrial project environmental impact (EIA) and health impact (HIA) assessments and the public hearing process as proposed by the National Environment Board, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Tuesday.

The Nation 07 January 2010 | Nalin Viboonchart

Thailand is no longer the most attractive Asian destination for Japanese investors, thanks to the Map Ta Phut fiasco, Munenori Yamada, president of the Japan External Trade Organisation's Bangkok office, said yesterday.

Bangkok Post 20 February 2010 | Thanida Tansubhapol

Japanese investors have confirmed they are still ready to boost investment in Thailand but have asked the government to come up with a clear timeframe for resolving the Map Ta Phut impasse.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya yesterday invited Japanese investors to the ministry to clarify the Map Ta Phut pollution problem, which led to the administrative case filed by local villagers against eight state agencies.

Bangkok Post 23 February 2010  

Central Administrative Court judges have visited industrial projects in Rayong's Map Ta Phut area whose construction has been suspended after the public prosecution sought permission for them to go ahead.

The Nation 29 April 2010   

A subpanel will propose measures on tackling pollution in Rayong's Map Ta Phut area before the end of next month.

The subpanel would work under a fourpart committee that is chaired by former prime minister Anand Panyarachun and was established after the Central Administrative Court suspended dozens of industrial projects in the heavily polluted Map Ta Phut area.

The Guardian 14 December 2015 | Fiona Harvey in Paris

Photograph: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

With all 196 nations having a say, the UN climate deal, with all its frustrations and drama, has proven that compromise works for the planet

In the final meeting of the Paris talks on climate change on Saturday night, the debating chamber was full and the atmosphere tense. Ministers from 196 countries sat behind their country nameplates, aides flocking them, with observers packed into the overflowing hall.

Bangkok Post  18 December 2015

Photo by AFP 

The International Energy Agency has cut its five-year coal demand forecast for a third year, saying the "golden age of coal in China" seemed over amid a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Minining.com 6 January 2016 | Cecilia Jamasmie

(Photo by GERAM | CleanMalaysia.com)

Malaysia has decided to halt the mining of bauxite in Pahang, the largest producing state, for three months beginning Jan. 15, in an attempt to cut sea and air pollution caused by the sector in the past two years.

Mining.com 15 January 2016 | Cecilia Jamasmie

The state of New Mexico plans to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over last year’s toxic Colorado mining spill that sent 3 million gallons of waste into the Animas and San Juan rivers.

Bangkok Post 23 January 2016 

PM moves to 'secure Thai energy sector'

Environmental activists and community residents have voiced opposition to the orders issued under Section 44 of the interim charter to clear the way for the construction of several power plants stalled by protests.

They called on the prime minister to review the order, saying that allowing the projects to go ahead would do more harm than good as they would lead to environmental problems and have a negative impact on people's health.

The Constitution Drafting Committee has agreed to spell out in the new draft communities' right to sue state agencies and the requirement for environmental and health impact assessments for all large projects following numerous complaints.

Bangkok Post 18 February 2016 | Paritta Wangkiat

Groups decry lack of community rights

Environmental activists are calling for revisions to the draft charter, saying it will undermine community rights by not sufficiently protecting and managing natural resources.

Viet Nam News  21 April 2016  

HANOI - The Vietnam Environmental Industry Association called for the creation of incentives to promote the development of the industry at a conference in Ha Noi last week.

The conference sought to review the implementation of a project on developing the environmental industry in Vietnam for the 2010-15 period and set goals through to 2025.

EARTH 12 September 2016

The organizers of the “MINAMATA@60: Learning from Industrial Disaster towards Sustainable Society and Environment”, including academics from Thailand and Japan, and Ms. Shinobu Sakamoto, a Minamata Congenital disease patient, met with the Director General of Pollution Control Department (PCD), Dr. Wijarn Simachaya, and the group also met with the representative of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Deputy Director of Disease Control Department, the Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases of the Ministry of Health, and the Chair of the Health Committee of the National Legislative Assembly, to urge the related state agencies to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Kyodo  07 September 2016 | Keiji Hirano

Victims, researchers and academics will on Saturday gather in Bangkok for a seminar marking the 60th anniversary since the discovery of mercury poisoning malady Minamata disease.

To be held at Chulalongkorn University, speakers will include Shinobu Sakamoto, a Kumamoto Prefecture native who contracted Minamata disease, which paralyzes the central nervous system and causes birth defects, in the womb.

Bangkok Post 05 March 2009 | VICHAYA PITSUWAN AND YUTHANA PRAIWAN

Delays in investment by state-owned energy giant PTT Plc could jeopardise the national economy, warns Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

PTT's investment plans were thrown into disarray this week when the Rayong Administrative Court ruled the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong should be designated a pollution-control zone.

Thai News Agency 29 September 2009

BANGKOK (TNA) – Thailand’s Central Administrative Court on Tuesday ordered 76 industrial projects in Map Ta Phut industrial estate in the eastern province of Rayong to temporarily halt operating amid continual concern about critical environmental and health impacts.

EDITORIAL

Bangkok Post 19 November 2015 

The cabinet on Tuesday approved a budget of 9.8 billion baht to be disbursed from the Central Fund for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to pay the NVPSKG consortium for the construction of the Klong Dan waste water treatment project in Samut Prakan province as ordered by the Administrative Court.

Bangkok Post 20 November 2015| Apinya Wipatayotin

Civil society groups yesterday urged the government to hold off paying 9.8 billion baht to the NVPSKG consortium until the Supreme Court finishes investigating the 19 officials involved in the graft-plagued Klong Dan wastewater-treatment plant project.

Penchome Sae-Tang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (Earth), yesterday said she opposed the cabinet resolution on Tuesday that approved the payout in the long-running legal dispute.  It is to be made in three payments in both baht and US dollars starting on Saturday, with a 3.2 billion baht and $21.7 million (778 million baht) transfer.

The Nation 09 June 2010   

Due to the leak, 299 people were hospitalised. Dozens of them were still in hospitals as of press time yesterday.

The factory is located inside the Hemaraj Eastern Industrial Estate in Rayong.

In the wake of the incident, Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand governor Monta Pranootnorapal ordered the suspension of the factory's operations and an investigation into the incident.

The Nation 02 June 2010 |  JANJIRA PONGRAI

Toxins from Rayong's Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate could cause about 16 per cent of pregnant women living within less than four kilometres of the estate to give premature birth, a report revealed yesterday.

Bangkok Post 07 June 2010  

Map Ta Phut residents say safeguards still missing

RAYONG : The four-party panel working on solving Map Ta Phut's pollution problems has finalised a draft list of activities it considers harmful to the environment and public health.

Bangkok Post 01 July 2010 | Nareerat Wiriyapong

Poor water supply threatens investment

RAYONG : Legal uncertainties surrounding regulations of industrial projects at Map Ta Phut should be cleared up within two weeks, but inadequate water supply poses a new threat to local operators and future investments in the area, says Industry Minister Chaiwuti Bannawat.

Bangkok Post 01 September 2010

Cabinet approves list of harmful industries

The government has taken another step towards ending the Map Ta Phut saga by approving a list of 11 industrial activities deemed harmful to the environment.

Bangkok Post 15 September 2010

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says he has "cleared the air" over the Map Ta Phut debacle during a surprise visit to the four-party panel which is looking into the issue.

Bangkok Post 03 September 2010

Rayong villagers react emotionally, slam govt

The Administrative Court has ordered the operating permits of only two industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut area to be terminated, allowing 74 other earlier-suspended projects to go ahead.

The court on Thursday handed down its ruling in the case filed by Map Ta Phut villagers and the Stop Global Warming Association against eight state agencies in June last year.

Bangkok Post 07 August 2015 | Apinya Wipatayotin

Consortium agrees to cut interest bill

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will find nine billion baht from its budget to pay the NVPSKG consortium, the contractor of the canned multi-billion-baht Klong Dan waste water treatment plant in Samut Prakan province, months after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled it to do so, a senior ministry official said yesterday.

Bangkok Post 16 August 2015 | Apinya Wipatayotin

B315m sought for waste water study

A 315-million-baht plan to conduct a new study for the controversial Klong Dan waste water treatment project has many top bureaucrats afraid of another failure, a senior government official said yesterday.

Bangkok Post 14 August 2015 | Apinya Wipatayotin

Repair bill, risk to coast ecology 'huge'

Residents living near the Klong Dan waste water treatment facility in tambon Klong Dan of Samut Prakan's Bang Bo district say they oppose the government's plan to dust off the suspended scandal-hit project.

Dawan Chantarahassadi, a key leader who opposed the project, said she and other residents would not take the decision lying down.

Bangkok Post 28 November 2015 | Apinya Wipatayotin

The Department of Pollution Control is considering a new option to discharge treated water from the Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant to nearby agricultural land and factories, instead of releasing it into the sea.

Bangkok Post 19 November 2015 | Apinya Wipatayotin

Govt will demand guilty pay B9bn fine

Officials found to be involved with the scandal-hit Klong Dan waste water treatment plant in Samut Prakan will be held responsible for huge fees incurred by the government for breach of contract.

Bangkok Post 04 March 2009 | APINYA WIPATAYOTIN  

The Administrative Court has ruled in favour of villagers in Rayong province, ordering the National Environment Board to declare the area near Map Ta Phut industrial estate a pollution control zone.

Twenty-seven villagers from 11 communities around the industrial estate in Muang district filed the case in October 2007, accusing the NEB of negligence for failing to designate the area as a pollution control zone.