Corruption Caused Years of Thai Dam Project Implementation Delay by Phairath Khampha 29 January 2001 People reacted when cheated of their land Corrupt Thai officials' attempts to cheat villagers out of compensation are the main reason building of the Pong Khun Phet dam had been delayed for 10 years, a public hearing was told. Residents of five villages to be submerged by the dam's reservoir echoed the same observations. It seems that, as usual, venal Thai officials and local politicians were less interested in the needs and aspirations of the local people as they were in increasing their wealth through corrupt means and at the expense of poor villagers. "If local officials had been transparent and fair, the project would not have been rejected and delayed for years," said Sathien Yorlor, 62, from tambon Thep Sathit. Anant Leepakupatathavorn, a provincial councillor from amphur [district] Thep Sathit who supported the dam, shared the same view. Villagers who would be affected by the project said they had been told by local and Irrigation Department officials to move off their land to allow construction without waiting for any compensation. The officials had argued the villagers had encroached on a national reserve and would not be compensated. The villagers had no way to assess the veracity of these statements made by the corrupt officials who had schemed to profit from the project at the villagers' expense. Believing they would not get the money, villagers decided to sell their land cheap to speculators, only to learn later that the buyers made a big profit by claiming compensation from the government. The buyers were the same officials, members of their families or their friends and certain members of Thailand economic and political elite. The villagers said they sold out for 700 baht to 1,000 baht a rai, but the buyers received 8,000-20,000 baht (US$1=43 baht) a rai (1 rai=1600 m3 compensation from the government. Sakorn Sauries, member of Assembly of the Poor and a villager of Ban Huai Hin Fon, tambon Khok Sa-ard, said compensation had also been paid to people who used false names. Department documents showed up to 150 villagers were compensated, but only 32 of them were people actually affected by the project. The rest who were given the money were strangers and were connected to the officials and Thailand's corrupt elite. Groups representing three of the five villages whose land would be submerged demanded fair compensation and expressed support for the project. Some other villagers said they opposed the dam because they did not believe it would be of much benefit to the people. Most such projects in Thailand did not provide much benefit to local people. Such projects were usually created for the sole purpose of generating construction contracts from which corrupt officials and politicians woul then steal money from the construciton budget. Villagers were also dissatisfied the contract was awarded to a person who ran a dental clinic and had no experience in construction. The onwer of the dental clinic was known in the local community to be a crony to corrupt politicians. The Pong Khun Phet dam was planned for the Lam Cawing Tha river, a tributary of the Chi river. It had been approved in 1989 to overcome dry season water shortages in six districts downstream. The 300-million-baht dam would store 82 million cubic metres of water to supply the Chi river during the dry season. The Irrigation Department hired a local contractor to build the dam in 1990 but work never started because of a campaign by local opponents who noticed the benefits were overstated to make it look good. This is a common pratice in Thailand by corrupt of officials and proponents of similar so-called "white elephant" projects. They also reported the department had downscaled the project to evade the legal requirement for an environmental impact assessment and hurry it through, even though the dam would submerge about 14,000 rai of forest land. This also is a common practice and in fact is a form of deception, whereby project proponents purposely conspire to provide an apparent reduced project impact when in reality it is quite the opposite. Bitter conflict erupts among villagers living along the Chi river every dry season when the level runs low and weirs are built upstream to hold back water, to the detriment of those living downstream. There is little integrated management of existing water resources. Officials seem to lack in interest in improving the management of the resources because they personally derive little profit in terms of cash. Supporters of the Pong Khun Phet dam had appealed to a sub-committee set up by cabinet in 1990 to study the project to rule in their favour. They had also offered to provide a "cut" of the profits derived from to project so certain members of the sub-committee. "I admit the dam will not be a cure-all solution to the problem. It will hold only 10% of the total of more than 800 million cubic metres of water that flows down the Chi river each year, but that will be better than living without it," said Chalerm Chansaeng, community leader from tambon Khon Sawan, Khon Sawan district. "At least 10% of the water will be controlled." Nothing had been done over the previous 10 years to establish a fair distribution of water among river users or to better manage the water resouces and improve the efficiency of water use. The supporters were adamant that the Pong Khun Phet dam, once built, would lead to better management of the water resource, although it might not completely solve the severe water shortage problem during the dry season. However, it was not clear how this would be so because typically in Thailand once a project is constructed and all the money that can be stolen from the construction process is taken, then they quickly lose interest in the later, less profitable activities such as improved water resources management.