BURMA GAS PIPELINE / MEETING ENDS I

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

Subject: BURMA GAS PIPELINE / MEETING ENDS IN CONFUSION

June 12, 1997

BANGKOK POST

BURMA GAS PIPELINE / MEETING ENDS IN CONFUSION


Conflicting stories told after talks

Govt says it's a deal, opponents disagree

Chakrit Ridmontri, Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Suebpong Unarat


The government said yes but opponents said no.

Depending on who made the statement, the meeting between supporters and 
opponents of the controversial gas pipeline project chaired by Prime Minister 
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh either arrived at a satisfactory conclusion or none at 
all.

Gen Chavalit and Industry Minister Korn Dabbaransi told reporters at 
Government House where the meeting took place that both sides had agreed that 
the 16.5-billion-baht project should go ahead.

"Conservation groups do not want the project rejected. They only want more 
information so that it will proceed without posing adverse effects," said the 
premier, adding that "the two sides understood each other".

But opponents told a different story.

"The prime minister has yet to solve the problems we raised and just passed 
them on to the provincial committee," said Phiphop Dhongchai, leader of a 
coalition for democracy campaign.

Gen Chavalit said the committee, which was recently set up to monitor the 
environmental impact of the project, would have to make public contract 
details made between the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, the Burmese gas 
exploration consortium and its own contractor.

He also assured opponents that the committee would be empowered to command 
various agencies involved in the project implementation and impose 
environmental mitigation measures.

Construction of the 260-km pipeline which will deliver natural gas from 
Burma's Yadana and Yetagun fields to a power plant in Ratchaburi began in 
February after the National Environment Board approved its environmental 
impact assessment study.

Opponents opposed it on the grounds that it will pass through a national park 
and an 1A watershed area, threatening ecology and endangered wildlife species.

Chaired by the Kanchanaburi governor, the multilateral committee convened its 
first meeting last month in an attempt to sort out differences between the two 
sides. But the two conservation groups, including a local one, have pulled out 
citing "a lack of transparency".

Mr Korn and government spokesman Warathep Rattanakorn also echoed Gen 
Chavalit's optimistic outlook, insisting that the project "will proceed and 
its plan made clear".

Mr Warathep said representatives of kamnan and village chiefs in Kanchanaburi 
had voiced support for the project because it will lead to greater development 
and prosperity in the area. They said they represented the majority of local 
people.

But opponents remain sceptical. Local conservation group leader Boonsong 
Chansongrassami said the provincial committee comprising mostly local 
officials and village chiefs could "neither conduct environmental impact 
studies nor monitor the construction".

He said it was a bureaucratic body and unreliable.

"What we need is an independent committee with neutral experts from various 
fields to conduct a study on the impact of the project, which is powerful 
enough to monitor and control the work done by the PTT."

He said construction work must stop while the study is being done.

Suraphon Duangkhae, deputy director of Wildlife Fund Thailand, said the 
conservation groups have yet to agree with Gen Chavalit's conclusion, saying 
that the provincial committee would be unable to make a decision contrary to 
the government's wishes.

Meanwhile, human right activists have claimed that the project encourages the 
use of forced labour and the relocation of ethnic groups living along the 
pipeline route in Burma.