THAILAND

The Map Ta Phut crisis has evolved into a new climax as private companies led by PTT and Siam Cement Group (SCG) are prepared to ask for permission to resume suspended products right after the National Economic Board's list of harmful projects is imposed against renewed protests from the protesters.

Chainoi Puankosoom, president and CEO of PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR), who represents the group in this matter, said yesterday that the group will immediately seek the Central Administrative Court's permission to resume 24 industrial projects in Map Ta Phut immediately after the National Environment Board's list of harmful projects are published in the Royal Gazette.

"We don't know when the list would be announced, but it would be good if this could be seen in the third quarter of this year," Chainoi said.

A source from Siam Cement Group which is another industrial group suffering largely from the court's injunction is also expected to make a similar move. "We're waiting for more details."

According to the list announced by the NEB on Monday, from 25 suspended projects of PTT Group, only one involving PTT Chemical's TOC Glycol project, is subjected to the health impact assessment (HIA). SCG has not concluded yet how many projects that are classified as the harmful project to the environment.

Today, Industry Minister Chaiwuti Bannawat will hold the meeting with the operators of 76 suspended projects at the One Start One Stop Investment Centre (OSOS), the Industry's centre set to help halted projects in the Map Ta Phut, to discuss about the next step to unlock the projects from the suspension.

Tomorrow (Aug 26), the Central Administrative Court calls for the last hearing of 76 industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut.

Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association which in collaboration with 43 locals in the polluted Map Ta Phut area charged eight government agencies of negligence which led to the suspension, yesterday vowed to make the court see how much damage the industrial projects have done to locals in the Map Ta Phut.

Srisuwan also planned to tell the court that the government and government agencies are not sincere in easing the woes of Map Ta Phut residents.

In a related move, Srisuwan said he was going to ask the Administrative Court to cancel the National Environmental Board (NEB) resolution about which projects should be classified as having serious impacts on the health of people and environment.

 "This is an illegitimate resolution. NEB has ignored the voice of the majority of people," Srisuwan said.

According to him, NEB resolution - if not revoked - will likely allow government agencies and entrepreneurs to avoid complying with the Section 67 of the Constitution, which has prescribed people's rights to protect their health and quality of life.

It was earlier believed that all suspended projects must complete HIA before winning the permission to resume operations. However, private companies are ready to stick by the NEB's resolution. In this case, PTT's sixth gas separation plant would not be subjected to HIA.

According to Chainoi, as the gas separation plant and other projects can resume operation within this year, the group is likely to post higher revenue than expected this year. Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT, recently said that if the sixth gas separation plant could not be operated this year, the company had to revise down its revenue and net profit projection for this year.