Growing Opposition to Farmers Forced to Pay for Water in Thailand by Phairath Khampha 21 April 2000 Aproposal mandated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to charge farmers for the water they use became the subject of heated debate on April 20, 2000 between Thailand's agriculture and finance ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The issue was expected to become one of the hottest on the agenda at the ADB's annual meeting held at the end of April and at a regional ADB meeting held in May in Chiang Mai. The ADB has made the demand as a basis for loaning US$600 million to Thailand for agricultural and water resources management restructuring. It was the first debate since NGOs accused the government of agreeing to a water pricing policy for the agricultural sector in order to secure a US$600 million (22.69 billion baht) loan from the ADB in 1999. The policy would put an unfair burden on poor Thai farmers to solve an economic crisis created by rich capitalists. It would further impoverish Thailand's rural people, particularly as the price for agricultural goods continues to fall. The Thai government agreed with the ADB to restructure the agriculture sector, which included seeking a way to charge for farm water, although no plan has been finalised. "Water should be priced in order to increase the efficiency of its use in the farm sector. It is an initiative of the Agriculture Ministry, not an ADB loan condition as the NGOs misinterpret," said Amphon Kitti-amphon, assistant to the Agriculture Ministry's permanent secretary. It was obvious to farmers who joined the meeting said the official was merely defending the bank. Authorities should stop lying and pretending that water pricing will not happen when the ADB loan conditions clearly state that the ministry would have to finalise the measure by December 2000, said Thammasart University's Worraphon Phromikabutr. In fact, the document of agreement Worraphon was referring to is Agriculture Sector Program Letter No. 0304/16810 dated August 4, 1999 signed by Minister of Finance Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda and then Minister of Agriculture Pongpol Adisekarn to ADB President Chino. Amphon did ultimately acknowledge that the policy was part of the loan's conditions, but said its impact would not be as large as many fear. Water pricing would not be implemented without public consultation, he said. To carry out a restructuring of Thailand's national management of its water resources, the ADB implemented a technical assistance. Halcrow Water and TEAM Engineering were selected by the ADB as the engineering consultants to carry out the technical assistance. They were selected from five proponents. The word heard about the Thai parliament and within the Ministry of Agriculture is that the selection of Halcrow and TEAM was fraught with controversy and resulted in the axing of Agriculture Minister Pongpol by former Thai prime minister Banharn Silapa-arch who favoured TEAM carrying out the technical assistance. Pongpol was axed when he publicly claimed that Banharn was meddling in the implementation of the loan and ensuring selection of an engineering consulting firm that would endeavour to see the technical assistance would be carried out according to Banharn's wishes in order that Banharn could siphon money out of the loan. Banharn is renowned and infamous in Thailand for his corrupt money politics. Banharn apparently has previously used TEAM to design and construct many of his pet projects, many of which involved money politics and corrupt implementation. pongpol and other senior officials in the Office of the National Water Resources Committee had favoured a Canadian/Thai consulting firm team they said better understood the issues at the rural level and the politics between Bangkok, the rural people and water resources management issues in Thailand. The selection of the consultant, however, lay with the ADB, which many Thais now feel carried out the selection with diplomatic expediency. [see related stories: Thailand's Agriculture Minister Axed Over ADB's Water Resources Program and Associated Agriculture Restructuring Loan and Chang Noi: Banharn's Museum to Money Politics] The need to increase the nation's foreign reserves is the main reason the government would agree to the loan's conditions including the water pricing policy, said Sommai Phasi, deputy permanent secretary at the Finance Ministry. "But there is still time to fix things. Don't panic; nothing is set. Whether water pricing would be good or bad is not clear now, but we still have time to discuss it," Sommai said. Environmental activist Witoon Phermphongsacharoen said the authorities were using the loan condition to support a misguided water policy. This was well understood before he reiterated it. Water pricing is just one idea, but it is supported by economists at the Thailand Research Development Institute, Witoon said. "The best water resource management should involve several solutions. The government should give priority to the community-based solution supported by local NGOs," he said. The technical assistance is thinly disguised as a medium to establish basin-level management of the water resources through local committees, however the members of the committees would mainly be senior officials of the very same government agencies that currently manage Thailand's water resources in a top-down manner. They must answer to their superiors in Bangkok and carry out their wishes, hence except for a cosmetic change, water resources management in Thailand would essentially remain the same. A prime example of this is the World Bank project being implemented in the Pasak River basin. It ostensibly has a mandate similar to that which the ADB claims would be implmeented in the technical assistance, however, the whole process has obviously already been hijacked by Bangkok. "To seek a water solution, one needs a complete view. The government needs to review the necessity of a loan which is certainly not enough to ease the economic crisisIt is only the same size as the compensation which the government must pay Burma for gas it has yet to receive," Witoon said. After the debate, senior officials from the two ministries agreed that some points made by the NGOs were worthwhile. The farmers' network submitted a protest letter to Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda expressing opposition to the water pricing policy.