The Thai government will partly fund construction of a series of flood-protection dykes around all industrial estates with the budget of five billion baht, Payungsak Chartsutipol, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries FTI said today.
The Flood Recovery and Restoration Committee on Economy, Industry and Livelihood, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, on Friday agreed to allocate a portion of the state budget from the Bt350 billion loan decree to fund private sector projects to construct flood protection dykes around industrial estates at a ratio of 2:3 of the total cost of construction.
For the remainder of the cost, covered by entrepreneurs themselves, they can apply for loans from the Government Savings Bank at a 0.01 per cent interest rate and the debt repayment period will be extended from seven to 15 years.The move is aimed to build confidence among investors in addition to helping the private sector.
If the dyke construction plan is tangible, the insurance premiums that the entrepreneurs will pay will also drop, Mr Payungsak said.Meanwhile, the construction plan must be clearly explained to local residents so they understand the dykes will not block floodways and will not affect the residents.
All industrial estates are expected to finish building the flood-prevention walls by the end of August.Late last year, major industrial zones in Thailand central provinces, in particular Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, were hard hit by the country’s worst floods in decades and were forced to halt operations for months. MCOT online news
Photo Credit: Stop Global Warming Associaiton website http://www.thaisgwa.com/
via Govt provides Bt5bln to build dykes for industrial estates.
