Soonruth Bunyamanee
Bangkok Post, April 12, 1999

Two weeks after the government officially unveiled its job creation fund to stimulate the economy, many local governments remain confused, uncertain if their projects qualify for the scheme. While rural administrative organisations have begun serious debate on their projects, conflicts have started to emerge amid tussles to get funds for their communities and people.

The government proposed injecting 53 billion baht from foreign loans to create jobs in the provinces during the next six months, to increase the people's spending power and stimulate the economy. Of this, 17 billion baht will be injected through the Interior Ministry - which will provide more than 7.4 billion baht directly to tambons throughout the country, which will each receive one million baht. The government hopes that this direct cash injection will be effective in boosting purchasing power in rural areas. It also set guidelines that each tambon allocate 100,000 baht to each village. But things do not always turn out as the government expects.

Several tambon administrations still do not know what to do with the money and what types of projects qualify for support. In some tambons, conflicts are building up among village heads as each of them wants to spend the money in their own village. In tambon Bangkaew, Muang district of Chachoengsao, Monthon Waicharoen, the chairman of the tambon administration organisation, said he had summoned the 12 village heads in the tambon to a meeting to consider what projects should be undertaken under the government's stimulus scheme.

"But the meeting ended inconclusively cause none of us knew what kind of projects the government would allow us to launch," Mr Monthon said. He therefore proposed that all the villages pool their funds to build a concrete road linking five villages in the tambon. Mr Monthon said he thought the 100,000 baht each village will receive was too small to develop anything substantial, so it would be better to pool the money. Although the majority of people involved agreed in principle with Mr Monthon's proposal, some did not.

Hansa Sirilak, head of a village which is distant from the office of the tambon administration organisation, said he strongly disagreed with Mr Monthon's proposal. The proposed concrete road would not go to his village."I understand that the government's objective is to distribute the 53 billion baht fund as widely as possible. If the fund is pooled for the construction of the main road, then only people around the tambon centre will be employed. "The people in other villages will get nothing," Mr Hansa said. He noted that nobody really knew the exact conditions the government has set for disbursing the money.

"We know roughly that at least 30 percent of the funds each tambon or village obtains will be set aside as wages for labourers. But we don't know whether projects which involve the use of heavy equipment are acceptable."Critics have noted the government was in a rush to implement the economic package as it hopes to stimulate the economy within six months. With this in mind, it set out to spend about 25 billion baht by the end of June and another 14 billion baht in the following quarter. In other words, the government planned to spend about 73 percent of the 53-billion-baht fund this fiscal year.

When introducing the package around the middle of March it required all relevant ministries to forward their spending plans by March 24, allowing them only about 10 days. While local administrations are still scratching around in confusion and have yet to work on any projects, the government has already reported in its "green book" - a book setting out details of all projects to be implemented under the scheme - that a total of 7.41 billion baht will be provided to fund 72,085 projects to be undertaken by tambon administration organisations countrywide.

"We were ordered to submit all projects in the province to the Interior Ministry on April 8 so that we would be able to obtain budget funds around the beginning of May," said Chachoengsao Governor Thirawat Kullawanich.

The governor admitted that he did not know exactly what kind of projects the government wants local administration organisations to undertake. Moreover, as money will be allocated through several agencies, he did not know exactly how much Chachoengsao province will actually get, and when. "Roughly, I expect to get around 200 million baht," Mr Thirawat said.

This situation pertains not only to Chachoengsao. Heads of tambons in many other provinces are in the same position. "I have asked several officials at the district office about the details of the projects we have to plan, but nobody could tell us. "They could not confirm even the amount of money we would get," said Sumate Sri-akarin, the secretary of the Chai Na tambon administration organisation. Sombat Ritthiboon, chief of Pho-ngarm tambon administration organisation in Prachin Buri, also said the provincial administration had still not provided details of the so-called Miyazawa fund.However, his tambon planned to use the money to promote hand-made brooms. He thought that would be more productive than road construction. "But we still don't know whether our project will qualify," Mr Sombat said.

The situation at tambon Kuanpring in Muang district of Trang, the hometown of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, was even more confusing. Charnyuth Petchkarn, the tambon chief, said he was told by the district chief that his tambon would get only 120,000 baht, and not one million baht as was reported. He was ordered to submit a project to the district by April 16, "but we do not know yet what to do. I will organise a meeting of villagers so that they can brainstorm what to do."Thongdee Memana, the chairman of tambon Baan Khor in Muang Pan district of Lampang, said he did not know anything at all about the scheme. "I was only informed that our tambon will get money, but nobody can tell us the exact amount we will get, what we have to do with the money, and how and where we will obtain the money. "Nothing at all," Mr Thongdee said. However, people in the tambon are still very enthusiastic, he said. They hope that the money to be injected by the government will help improve the quality of their lives.