June 17, 1998. PTT slammed for fail

[burma@xxxxxxxxxx]

June 17, 1998. PTT slammed for failing to look after forest areas Questions over rock 
                         blasting operations


Kanchanaburi

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand's work on the Yadana gas pipeline 
project in a Kanchanaburi forest has been carried out with no real 
concern for the environment, the secretary-general of the Environmental 
Policy and Planning Office charged yesterday.

Pongsak Wongwitsanypong said after yesterday's meeting of a subcommittee 
studying the project's environmental impact that the PTT had implemented 
the project with no concern for the environment and had never enforced 
accident prevention measures.

A recent inspection of the KP 68 and KP 100 sites where the pipeline was 
laid on a riverbed showed the PTT had neither used dust and oil spill 
filtering equipment to prevent pollution nor informed the panel of its 
rock-blasting schedules at some sites, he said.

Also, he added, no Harbour Department or provincial officials were 
posted at the two sites to monitor the construction work.

"If the media had not been following the progress of the project, we 
would not have known about rock blasting at Ban Wang Nok Kaew. Why did 
the blasting take place at night?" said Mr Pongsak.

Amnuay Laimai, chief of the PTT's construction division, reportedly told 
the meeting yesterday that 91% of the pipeline-laying work was under 
way, while the entire project construction up to May 31 was 94.3% 
completed.

The subcommittee yesterday also agreed to assign the Forestry Department 
to reforest all the project's construction sites and to follow up on a 
non-governmental organisation's project to improve the quality of life 
for people living along the pipeline route.