13th AUGUST
2000 BANGKOK
THAILAND
Five Communities Vow to Block Survey Teams
Confrontation Looms as Deadline Nears
Report from the Bangkok Post www.bangkokpost.com
by Supoj Wancharoen
Residents of Ratchathewi and
Pathum Wan districts, including the Ban Krua Muslim
community, confirmed their readiness yesterday for a looming
confrontation with the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority (ETA).
The authority has overridden all
objections and announced it will begin entering
their communities from next week to begin surveying for a controversial
new expressway access ramp.
About 300 representatives of five
communities met at a mosque in historic Ban Krua community at 2pm
yesterday and agreed to bar access to ETA surveyors.
They came from Ban Krua, Wat
Phrayayoung, Saphan Huachang, Petchaburi 20 and Wat Pathumwanaram
communities. The planned 2-km road would run through their
neighbourhoods along the Saen Saep canal from Uruphong to Ratchadamri
road.
Ban Krua leader Sarote Phuaksamlee
confirmed his people were resolute in opposing the ETA, and asked if the
other communities were also determined to keep on fighting. Their
affirmations were unanimous.
Also present at the gathering were
representatives from the Assembly of the Poor, southerners who oppose
the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline, and inshore fishermen from the South.
They also promised to support Ban Krua
and its neighbours in opposing the expressway.
They all had common cause in opposing
the government, they said.
Mr Sarote said the government must
honour the conclusions of two past public hearings which concluded the
short expressway link would be of no benefit to Bangkok traffic.
"The government has never
recognised the poor's problems. It pleases only the rich," he said.
The first public hearing was chaired
by economist Narongchai Akaraseranee, from
April to June 1993, and the other by economist Ammar Siamwalla,
from April to September 1994.
Both hearings came out
against the ETA's planned 4.5 billion baht "collection and
distribution road".
Poramet Phuto, a Ban Krua
leader, said his people would not leave their homes.
"The ETA recently applied
for a budget of 3.5 billion baht to expropriate the
land, despite the fact its staff have not been able to enter it
yet," he said.
"The cabinet finally
rejected the request and this means that Ban Krua helped
the government save money."
He rejected the expressway authority's
offer to build flats for residents who agree to move out. The agency
would not have enough money for the flats, and the designated sites in
Min Buri and Nong Chok districts were almost fully occupied.
Another Ban Krua speaker said the
young men had announced their readiness to exercise their strength to
block ETA staff from entering their community.
Kingkaew Attakorn, from the Kasemsan
Palace community that is included in the expropriation list, said her
family would fight to the end to protect the property.
"Our land is expensive, about a
million baht per rai. If we needed money we would have sold it, but we
are determined to keep it to show respect to our ancestors.
"We denied entrance to ETA staff
who said our land would be expropriated.
Their message is an insult to
us," she said.
The authority announced on July 24 it
would definitely move in to make surveys that would lead to
expropriation, and gave people 30 days to prepare.
The Ban Krua community has been
opposing the road since 1988. It is part of the second-stage expressway
system awarded to Bangkok Expressway Co.
