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Chuan agrees to hearing on Yadana c



Chuan agrees to hearing on Yadana controversy

BY JAMES FAHN 

Feb. 13 1998 
The Nation

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai yesterday approved an agreement between the
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and conservation groups to set up a
public hearing committee which will examine the Yadana pipeline project,
NGO sources said yesterday. 

The committee, which will be chaired by former PM Anand Panyarachun and
begin its deliberations today, will have 10 days in which to examine all
the issues surrounding the controversial project. 

The conservation groups who have opposed the construction of the pipeline
in the watershed forests of Kanchanaburi will be allowed to present their
case on the first, fourth, fifth and eighth days. 

The second, third, sixth and seventh days will be allotted to PTT officials
to allow them to defend the project and the way in which it has been
carried out. 

The committee will use the final two days to reach a conclusion about the
project and prepare a set of recommendations to the Cabinet, which will
then decide on how to proceed with the project. 

The public hearing, which will be held in Building 44 behind Government
House, is to be open to the public and should also be aired over government
radio. 

According to one environmentalist, the government has refused to broadcast
it over TV. 

"We hope the public hearing will provide people with a clearer picture of
this project and all its consequences,"he said. "aybe some supporters will
change their minds."

Construction of the project will be halted while the public hearing takes
place, but the conservationists who are currently blocking work by camping
out along the pipeline route in Kanchanaburi will have to end their sit-in
once the Cabinet has made its decision. 

The committee will have 13 members including Kaewsan Atipho, a legal expert
from Thammasat University, Khunying Suthawan Sathirathai of Chulalongkorn
University, Sophon Suphapong, head of Bangchak Petroleum Plc, Senator
Paibool Wattanasiritham, social critic Dr Prawase Wasi, Chulalongkorn
lecturers Chaiwat Satha-anand and Suraphol Sudara, Mahidol lecturer
Chiraphol Sintunawa, and Visanu Waranyu of Thammasat University.