NGOs Denied Role in Management Panel for ADB Loan to Thailand by Phairath Khampha 26 April 2000 Corrupt officials "guarantee" trustworthiness of committee in charge of ADB loan program for Agricultural and Water Resources Restructuring Thailand's agriculture officials rejected a demand by non-governmental organisations that they be allowed to participate in the management and monitoring of programs to be funded by the Asian Development Bank's loan. This goes against the ADB's claims that the development process it finances in developing countries should have a bottom-up approach. The ADB did not make any comment on this latest development, suggesting its motives might be hypocritical in light of diplomatic expediency to have the government take the loan. It also suggests the Thai people no longer are as naive about the ADB's motives as it would like to think. "Personally, I don't agree to having NGO representatives on the committee. Think about it. If we can't trust a neutral party, then there's something wrong in our country," said Adisak Srisapakij, deputy permanent secretary for agriculture. Mr Adisak also is the representative of the Thai government executing agency for the controversial US$600 million ADB loan for agricultural and water resources management restructuring. The issue of the loan and the selection of the international engineering consulting firm for carrying out the water resources management restructuring technical assistance in April also saw the axing of Thailand's agriculture minister Pongpol Adiraksarn. [See related story: Thailand's Agriculture Minister Axed Over ADB's Water Resources Program and Associated Agriculture Restructuring Loan] The neutral party Mr Adisak referred to is a committee of the Program Management Office, the executing agency for the projects under the loan, which had been set up to manage programs under the ADB loan. Mr Adisak heads the office and is the representative of the executing agency. Referring to public scepticism about the transparency of the ADB loan management, Mr Adisak said he was confident existing regulations and procedures could block out inappropiate proposals. "There are five senior ministry officials and senior officials from other agencies keeping an eye on the programs," he said. The committee, chaired by the agriculture minister, is made up of the ministry's permanent-secretary, the secretary-general and a representative of the Office of Agricultural Economics, directors of the Budget Bureau, Auditor-General's Office, and Fiscal Policy Office, as well as the Comptroller-General's Department chief and the secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board. Besides the transparency issue, another concern by social activists, conservationists and the media was a proposed fee for irrigation water use, as one of the conditions attached to the ADB loan. Critics said the water fee would place a heavy burden on small farmers. Mr Adisak insisted the Agriculture Ministry had no plan to charge farmers for the use of irrigation water, but admitted the policy matrix attached to the ADB loan required the country to find the best way to maximise cost recovery for the use of resources so as to achieve sustainability. Translated, this means, as usual, Thailand's taxpayers, poor and weak would have to pay whilst the economic and political elite would enrich themselves on the loan. Another issue of concern among NGOs was the withdrawal of a farm subsidy. However, Mr Adisak confirmed price interventions by the government would remain as long as they did not disrupt market mechanisms. "The ADB said it wanted the market to function naturally but we can't do it in the present situation," he said. Officials insisted small farmers would benefit from the ADB loan aimed at turbo-charging the agricultural sector by setting standards for improving the quality of farm produce. Mr Adisak rejected an NGO demand that the government return the loan to ADB, saying doing so would not benefit farmers. Past experience suggested this is all empty talk as most ADB loans to Thailand in the end were manipulated so as to economically hurt Thailand's rural people. It is for this reason there is complete mistrust by Thailand's people in the ADB's activities. Most Thais see the ADB's activities as a mechanism to transfer their hard-earned money back to the Bank through interest payments on the loans and to the first nations that provided the finances, while the loan money is squandered by the country's economic and political elite through all sorts of engineered and corrupt so-called development programs. Obviously the Thai people are no longer as naive as their government officials, politicians and the ADB would like to think.