UPDATE   
Community Organisations Development
Institute

.JAN 13 2003   
Thailand to Build 1 Million Low-Income Housing Units

One million new housing units will be built over the next five years in  an 80-billion-baht development programme for low-income slum residents announced yesterday by the government. The National Housing Authority NHA and  Community Organisation Development Institute  CODI will implement the plan. 

Ten pilot projects will be overseen by CODI, with a total of 1,525 units that will be established in  Narathiwat, Songkhla, Rayong, Uttaradit and Bangkok under a budget of  200 million baht.   Buyers would be charged interest of 4 percent a year on loans, but they would pay only 1 percent with the government paying the balance of the interest. The duration of the loan terms was not known.   According to Codi, some 1.6 million families nationwide currently live in 5,000 slum area.

Somsook Boonyabancha, Director of CODI, said the housing programme would help ease the problems of illegal slums on state land.

 In addition to the amount CODI will receive for the pilot work in 10 projects/cities, CODI has also requested 20 million Baht to start off preparatory planning in all other cities.

National Community Expo 
Jan 21-23. 
Day 1 will bring 1,500 community people together to discuss their different approaches on 8 community strategies, examining how to link them. 
Day 2 will break into 20 issue based discussion groups. The groups will present their ideas on how to move forward in the afternoon, but in some unconventional form of presentation (song, play, dance etc). In the evening organizers will try to sum up these results for the next days presentation. 
Day 3 will be a relaxed conclusion with presentation of results. The Thai Prime Minister Taksin will attend the final day..

 Jan 30-31, A meeting of the elderly networks in the 14 southern provinces will be held in Krabi, also at the time as  the inauguration of a Krabi elderly group's Palm Plantation.  The group purchased th eplantation with a loan from CODI last year.