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Opponents see the project as totally unnecessary. They have also pointed out that the same funds, all 70 billion baht, could be used for far better purposes – such as doubling the existing railway between Bangkok and Korat.
One of the motorway’s leading advocates, Suwat Liptapanlop, who headed northeast Thailand’s Chatpattana Party before it merged with the Thai Rak Thai, initially made his family millions in construction of state projects. His name has also been associated with yet-unproven accusations of construction corruption in the huge multibillion-baht Klong Daan waste treatment facility.
That such an infrastructure project as a national motorway would moisten the lips of any politician-businessman with an “in” on state project funding is a given; even if there were only 20 percent corruption involved, a low figure by Thai standards, those “playing” would stand to gain no less than US$40 million, give or take a few bucks.
So it is “natural” that such allies to the project backers, such as Nakhonratchasima’s Chamber of Commerce, would back such construction.
But fissures have opened among the Thai business community in the northeast, with some outspoken activists trying to call a spade a spade. In a Jan. 22 seminar in Bangkok held to discuss the proposed motorway, residents of Pakchong district of Nakhonratchasima, a scenic area near Khao Yai national park and through which all road and train traffic from Bangkok to the northeast flows, spoke out against the motorway investment and pointed out several concerns and suggestions.
While the motorway is designed for uninterrupted speeds of 100-120 kilometers per hour, the current railway along the same route has the design capacity to run trains at 90 kph – but for some reason was mandated to retain speeds at 60 kph. Motorway opponents ask why not upgrade services on the existing track as well as spend the funds on doubling it.
The amount of funding itself is far too high to justify, most especially in the current economic climate. The Pakchong residents and supporters also suggested spending the money on other state projects such as improving existing highways.
The project is also, in their view, short-sighted because it depends on “politically-motivated” needs and lacks a 10, 15 or 25-year master plan that would better reflect development needs.
Other short-sighted aspects of the budget planning process include state support of a 1.0 meter-wide eventual doubling of the existing track rather than a modern 1.434 meter-wide standard such as adopted by neighboring Vietnam.
The state could undertake a review of all five motorway routes currently in design, totaling over US$4 billion, and plan to upgrade state rail routes instead. It could also reassess and redesign its overall transportation master plan to properly allocate funds to projects that are genuinely needed and useful.
The conflicting interests involved in scrutiny of the motorway project were reported by Thailand’s Thai-language media. The main protest group is the People’s Assembly of Thailand, one of the country’s more active citizen groups. It and other concerned citizens in Thailand have a right to be concerned over misuse of state funds and lack of ethical planning.
Time and again major projects that have negatively affected the environment or totally wasted taxpayer funds have been carried out with the backing of corrupt politicians and those in the business arena standing to gain with their political alliances.
In Korat itself stand two huge testaments to wasted funding sponsored by adulated political heavyweights: an almost totally unused multimillion-dollar airport and a hardly used multimillion-dollar sports stadium, both supported by local politicians needing votes and cash for their coffers, voted into office by citizens who can hardly afford gasoline for the motorcycles they drive.
What happens to these showpiece monoliths after the dust has settled is of little concern to these political icons; they have taken their share and split. Justice continues to creep along slowly in the kingdom. While accusations may arise years later, getting them into court and getting convictions is another matter. Politicians know this at the beginning – the poor voters who keep them in office only find out later.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com – he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
