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Drying Mekong worries tour firms
CHATRUDEE THEPARAT
Bangkok Post. 14 April 2007.
Tourism executives are urging the government to help speed up efforts
to alleviate low water levels in the Mekong River.
"Cruise operators for tourism are now being hard hit by the severe
drying of the Mekong River. Many of them have suspended their services
because of a sharp drop in tourists," said Vipat Kanchanapairoj, a
cruise operator and managing director of the Chiang Saen River Hill
Hotel.
Currently, it takes two days to complete a journey from Chiang Saen in
Chiang Rai province to Luang Prabang in Laos. The journey normally
takes just one day, and the result for boat operators has been higher
operating costs that they have to pass on to their customers. The
hardest hit have been cargo boats, Mr Vipat said.
Water levels in the Mekong have been affected by the construction of
two dams upstream in China, where a third is now planned. The new dam
in Xiaowan, slated for completion in 2010, is the latest in a series
of eight hydro-electric dams China plans for the river in a bid to
counter floods and retain water.
The Mekong River water crisis was raised at a Greater Mekong Subregion
(GMS) summit held in Kunming in 2004, but China ignored the issue. The
GMS consists of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China's
Yunnan province.
The issue would be raised again at the next GMS meeting in the
Philippines in June, said Arkhom Termpittayapaisit, deputy secretary
to the National Economic and Social Development Board and a senior
Thai delegate to the group.
Mr Arkhom suggested the issue would be better raised with the Mekong
River Commission, which is responsible for water utilisation from the
river. The river is a lifeline for tens of millions of people in the
downstream countries of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Current conditions, he said, might prompt Thai authorities to
reconsider the necessity of building a second port at Chiang Saen.
Construction of the second port is scheduled to begin in October 2007
with completion a year later, at a cost of 1.1 billion baht. The new
port is designed to serve 25 ships simultaneously and would take over
all cargo handling from the existing facility.
Three ministries _ Finance, Transport and Industry _ are expected to
make a decision on the new port prior to the GMS meeting in June, Mr
Arkhom said. However, he added, the second Chiang Saen bridge with a
total investment of 1.6 billion baht would go ahead as planned because
the land transport link plays a significant role for trade and
tourism.
Construction on the bridge is expected to start next year and be
completed in 2011.
Pattana Sitthisombat, the chairman of the Chiang Rai Chamber of
Commerce, urged the government to move ahead with plan to construct
the second port to ease traffic. He said Thailand would lose
competitiveness and face greater logistics costs unless its river port
infrastructure could be expanded.
According to Mr Pattana, trade through Chiang Rai checkpoints is
increasing by 10-20% a year, with the value through Chiang Saen worth
about six billion baht annually.
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