Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday expressed confidence that two “strategic committees” could help rebuild the country and restore foreign investor confidence.
Ms Yingluck on Saturday hosted her weekly television programme “Yingluck Government Meets the People” with the Strategic Formulation Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development chairman Veerapong Ramangura, two members of the Strategic Formulation Committee for Water Resource Management – Pitipong Puengboon Na Ayutthaya who chaired a subcommittee on short term measures/urgent projects and Kijja Pholphasi who chaired a subcommittee on long-term project development and sustainable water management.
Mr Suranand Vejjajiva, a former minister to the prime minister’s office, served as the moderator.
The premier said that she was confident that the two strategic panels could successfully restore public and foreign investor confidence and that the flood crisis would definitely not occur again because of better water management.
She also believed in short and long term measures that could effectively handle water in 2012. The measures included water sluice gates, canal dredging and floodways.
The government would speed up measures to rebuild confidence in the economy, she said.
via PM is confident two panels set up for water management can restore foreign investor confidence.
The Ministry of Energy has come up with energy measures to assist industries that were affected by the recent flooding.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan explained the measures, aimed at bringing quick recovery to the industrial sector.
The first measure seeks to enhance the efficiency of energy use in the manufacturing and business sectors. The Ministry of Energy will offer a grant aid to support 30 percent of the restoration cost for machinery, materials, and equipment in flood-hit areas. It has prepared a budget of two billion baht to carry out this project.
In the second measure, affected factories and workplaces will be urged to turn to equipment, materials, and devices with higher quality. The change will lead to better production, which will help them tackle technical problems in the long run.
The third measure seeks to provide advice and knowledge on energy conservation and the use of alternative energy. In this connection, the Ministry of Energy has asked the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and seven universities to send experts and technicians to check machines in inundated workplaces, assess the damage, and offer suggestions on how to repair them. The seven universities include Thammasat, Mahidol, Silpakorn, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok.
The Ministry of Energy will also organize a fair in Bangkok and 27 other provinces, from December 27 to January 4 to provide an opportunity for people wishing to buy home appliances to replace their flood-hit items. In Bangkok, the event will take place at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center on Bang Na – Trat Road. Registration will be opened for flood-hit people at the fair, where they will be given discount coupons worth 2,000 baht. The coupons can be used to buy products there up to a total value of 10,000 baht, with a discount of 2,000 baht.
