The Prime Minister confirmed that there will be no flooding in Bangkok because the amount of water is not as much as in 2011. He said that the water level is starting to recede. He asked to focus on helping the villagers. He stated that after the policy statement to the parliament, he will be able to do more.
Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister and leader of the Pheu Thai Party, gave an interview after visiting the area to meet the people who were affected by the floods. She said that from visiting the area, she had talked to many people and was aware of the hardships in the past few days. But now the situation is starting to get better. The water has started to recede. But now she wants to focus on helping the people because each flood causes a lot of loss and hardship.
When asked about the official report that the mass of water flowing down should not be a problem for the central region and Bangkok, Ms. Paethongtarn said that at present, the upper dams, both Sirikit Dam and Bhumibol Dam, are defi
nitely able to hold enough water. Therefore, there is no problem in the Bangkok area. There is also no forecast of a storm. Therefore, the Bangkok area is safe. Meanwhile, the North is starting to improve. Including from talking with Lt. Col. Thammanat Prompao, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, it is known that at present, the North will be at most 7 days before everything will start to clear up. Or some provinces may only have 3-5 days.
As for the overall water situation this year, it will not be the same as in 2011, right? Ms. Paethongtarn said that it is definitely not as scary as in 2011 because in 2011 there was a lot of water and there were 5 storms in October 2011. But now there is a forecast that there will be 2 storms in the country or maybe none at all.
When asked if there was any preparation for the possible increase in rainfall in September to October, Ms. Paethongtarn said that there had been sufficient preparation. As for the irrigation sector, there was no concern like in 2011 because
we had already dealt with it before. This year, the rainfall was not as high as in 2011.
Ms. Paethongtarn continued that if the policy statement to the parliament is complete, this matter must be taken care of seriously because from visiting the area, she saw that the people are seriously suffering from the floods. Anything that can help the people should be helped because the benefits are with the people. In addition, there are many other things that are in mind. If the cabinet formation process is complete, she will try to start working.
When asked how she would like to solve this problem in the future, Ms. Paethongtarn immediately replied that of course. Currently, there is information about which dams have broken, and if this problem is solved in the long term, there will be no need to fix it or spend money on it repeatedly in the short term. This is what we intend to do in the future.
“If we talk about determination, there is definitely determination. We definitely have determination to make this a lo
ng-term solution so that we don’t waste small and frequent budgets,” Ms. Paethongtarn said.
Source: Thai News Agency