THAILAND

Firms encouraged by presentation made to court, but networks vow to battle on

The Central Administrative Court will rule next Thursday whether to unlock various Map Ta Phutbased industrial projects that have been put on hold since last year.

If the yesterday's statement by Commissaire du Gouvernement Wijit Rakthin is any indication, the owners of the suspended projects will have a reason to rejoice. Commissionare du Governement is the person who has summed up main points in the case for the judges and who has made comments without any legalbinding effects.

The statement from Wijit proved so positive to the projects that PTT share price jumped. PTT has invested heavily in one of the suspended multibillionbaht projects.

In a historic case, the Stop Global Warming Association led 43 Map Ta Phut residents in filing a complaint against the National Environment Board (NEB) and seven other government units for allegedly approving 76 new industrial projects in Map Ta Phut area without proceeding in line with Section 67 of the Constitution in 2008.

After the case was filed, the court last year issued an injunction suspending all 76 projects causing an impasse and grave concerns among investors.

Wijit yesterday said there was no solid information to back up the plaintiffs' claim that the Section 67, which regulated projects with serious impacts on environment and people's health, should apply to the 76 projects.

He thus believed the accused parties did nothing illegitimate.

Citing the fact that 11 plaintiffs withdrew from the case after receiving remedial actions from parties concerned, Wijit said he was convinced the injunction should also be revoked.

He, so far, said if the plaintiffs later found these projects violated Section 303 of the Constitution, which prescribed communities' rights, they could petition to the Central Administration Court.

Inside the courtroom, representatives from the suspended projects looked happy.

However, Stop Global Warming Association chairman Srisuwan Janya refused to lose his hope.

He pointed to the fact that the statement by Wijit had no binding effects on the court's verdict, which will be read at 1.30pm on September 2.

The verdict will come out of a threejudge panel. The chief judge is Phanuphan Chairat.

"The verdict is not always in line with the statement from the Commissionare du Governement anwyay," Srisuwan said.

He said in the Mae Moh case, the judges' verdict was completely different from the statement of the Commissaire du Gouvernement.

However, Srisuwan said if the Central Administrative Court ruled in favour of accused parties in the Map Ta Phut cases, he would definitely lodge an appeal.

Eastern Resident Network coordinator Sutthi Atchasai stood by Srisuwan's decision.

After the verdict comes out, an appeal must be made within 30 days or else the verdict will become final.

Moreover, Srisuwan yesterday vowed to file complaint against NEB for listing just 11 business activities as having serious impacts on environment and people's health within two weeks too.

The NEB completed the listing on Monday.

The fourpartite committee appointed the government to resolve Map Ta Phut crisis has recommended that NEB list up to 18 business activities.

"NEB decision is against people's needs as well as the intention of the laws," Srisuwan said.

 Harnnarong Yaowalert, one of the fourpartite committee members, complained the NEB decision would only prolong the Map Ta Phut crisis.

"People's networks will step up pressure on them and the problems will drag on," he said.