BKK POST: February 9, 1998:GAS PIPE

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BKK POST: February 9, 1998:GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

              Poll shows Thais
              back gas project

              It must have little environment impact

              Nearly 70 percent of people interviewed in a survey want the
              Thai-Burmese gas pipeline built with the conditions that it must
              have minimal environmental impact, be safe, and up to standard.

              Suan Dusit Poll, a public opinion study programme under
              Ratchabhat Institute at Suan Dusit, interviewed 5,183 people in
              Bangkok and Kanchanaburi between Feb 2-7.

              Using the so-called rapid survey technique, it found 69.35
              percent of respondents favouring the completion of the
              controversial gas pipeline while 12.74 percent was against the
              construction, preferring energy saving measures, alternative
              energy sources, and complete review of the project's pros and
              cons.

              The Petroleum Authority of Thailand has been building the
              260-km pipeline that will take delivery of natural gas from the
              Yadana and Yetagun gas fields in Burma. The pipeline will
              connect with the Burmese system at Ban I-tong village in
              Kanchanaburi's Thong Pha Phum district and runs through 50
              km of forest areas to feed the power plant at Ratchaburi.

              The pipeline has now reached a lush forest where a group of
              protesters have set up camp to prevent further laying of pipeline.
              An alliance of local and national conservation and human rights
              groups have protested against the pipeline, claiming it will
              damage a lush forest, endanger rare wildlife and threaten the
              safety of residents along the route.

              People interviewed in the survey include residents along the
              pipeline route, other residents in Kanchanaburi, members of the
              media and Bangkok residents.

              More than 90 percent of the respondents said they have either
              followed the news of the controversy throughout or occasionally.
              More than half, 56.5 percent, said they were confident of the
              safety of the pipeline system.

              The survey has an error margin of plus or minus 5 percent.




                                       




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