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Transport office on track for logistics master plan
The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy (OTTP) and
Planning is gearing up for a national logistics revolution by drawing up a
master plan aimed at minimizing transportation costs, and is spending 44
million baht on hiring universities and private sector companies to
determine where savings can be made.
According to OTTP director Khamroblak Surasawadee, the
plan comes at a time when the government is increasingly recognizing the
difficulty of cutting costs in the industrial sector, with raw materials and
labor costs constantly on the rise.
It is hoped however that a logistics plan would be able
to slash transportation costs by as much as 20-30 percent.
Khamroblak said that the OTTP had now hired specialists
from two universities and two private consultancy companies, at a cost of 44
million baht, to study and collect information on what goods Thailand was
exporting, and what the possible transportation channels were for each
commodity.
While conceding that 44 million baht was a large sum, the
OTTP director expressed confidence that it would bring long-term benefits.
“When we know which routes we will use, the government
will develop major roads for freight transport”, he said. “For example,
the transportation of some agricultural goods, such as sugarcane and
cassava, necessitates vehicles being loaded to above the legal limit. But
these goods can only be transported by lorry. But in the case of other goods
such as cement or rice, we will encourage transport by train, as this would
make better financial sense”. (TNA)
Ministry asks for money for 15,000 new artesian wells
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment
recently announced its latest bid to beat the country’s drought crisis,
requesting funding to dig another 15,000 artesian wells in 9,000 villages
across the country.
Somkid Buapheng, deputy director-general of the
Department of Groundwater Resources, revealed that of the 1,822 new artesian
wells being dug by the department as an emergency response to the current
drought, 752 had now been completed.
Stressing the urgency of the situation, she said that
officials would continue to dig more wells round the clock in order for all
the wells to be completed by the end of the month.
As part of the ministry’s 220 billion baht program to
develop the nation’s water courses over the next two years, the department
is now preparing a bid to dig an additional 15,000 wells in 9,000 villages,
most of them in the north and northeast.
“The Department of Groundwater Resources is pouring a
huge amount of funding into digging artesian wells in response to water
shortages in remote villages,” Somkid said, noting that in many cases
artesian wells were the only answer where surface water sources were
contaminated.
Thailand this year has suffered from one of its worst
droughts in decades. The government has vowed to eliminate drought as a
national problem within the next four years. (TNA)
Transport Ministry plans a
5.5 billion baht port in southern Satun
The Transport Ministry estimates that a new commercial
port to serve rubber export in Pakbara in the southern province of Satun
will cost 5.5 billion baht and take up to five years to build.
Wanchai Sarathulthat, transport permanent-pecretary, said
the ministry has just received from a consultancy firm the detailed plan for
the construction of the deep-sea port which will help facilitate rubber
export of up to one million tons per annum. The plan will be forwarded for
Cabinet approval by the end of April.
Once completed, the planned Pakbara Port in La-ngu
District of Satun will be in the same league as world-class ports in
Singapore and Malaysia, Wanchai claims. The development of this port forms
part of the government’s ambitious mega-infrastructure development plans
to make Thailand the regional logistics hub.
Pakbara Port is designed to be capable of docking three
30,000 deadweight-ton vessels and two 50,000 DWT vessels at any one time. In
addition to serving commercial shipping, a fishing pier and tourist terminal
are also planned within the area, according to Wanchai. Construction is
expected to take up to five years. (TNA)
Workers are encouraged
to stay in Thailand
Labor Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom said that his ministry
will encourage Thai laborers to remain in Thailand, rather than seeking work
abroad, and also revealed plans to hire colleges to provide skills training
to upgrade the quality of the Thai workforce.
Admitting that the ministry would attach secondary
importance to Thai laborers abroad, Mr. Sora-at said that the primary focus
would be on creating jobs at home.
The Thai labor market, he said, still requires a large
workforce, and going abroad to work to only be considered as an option if
strictly necessary.
Nonetheless, he reiterated the ministry’s commitment to
ensuring that Thai laborers wishing to work abroad were fully prepared, and
would provide them with information about the languages, cultures and laws
of their destination countries.
At the same time, he said, Thai labor offices abroad had
been instructed to look after the needs of all Thai workers, regardless of
whether they had entered the country legally or were illegal laborers.
The minister also unveiled plans to upgrade the quality
of the Thai labor force, stressing the need to ensure that the skills of the
workforce were in line with market demand.
Conceding that ministry officials alone would not be able
to undertake this task, he said that he had recently entered into talks with
prominent educational institutions which would be hired to provide skills
training.
He also pledged to establish a committee to look at cases
where workers were being tricked or taken advantage of, and said that
workers who were afraid to inform on their employees would be able to give
anonymous information through a ministry complaints box. (TNA)
Fabric exporters told to shift to neighboring countries
The Department of Foreign Trade has advised Thai fabric
exporters to shift their production bases to neighboring countries in order
to take advantage of new US tax breaks.
Under legislation currently being debated by the US
Senate, import tariffs would be waived for 15 underdeveloped nations which
have been adversely affected by the US’s decision to abolish quotas on
fabric imports, including Cambodia and Laos.
Rachane Potjanasuntorn, the director-general of the
Department of Foreign Trade, said that although the proposed legislation
could create new competitors for Thailand in the future, Thai fabric
exporters could take advantage of the tax breaks by shifting their
production bases to Laos and Cambodia. (TNA)
Fish get chips in high-tech research exercise
Chips may seal the fate of many a happy fish, but they
could just save the life of the Mekong Giant Catfish, under research plans
unveiled by the Department of Fisheries.
According to department’s Director-General Mr. Sitdhi
Boonyaratpalin, giant catfish being raised in the river have been fitted
with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and micro-satellite DNA
markers as part of a breeding plan to ensure their continuing genetic
diversity and prevent disease.
It is hoped that the bred giant catfish, which have been
classed as ‘critically endangered’ by the World Conservation Union, can
then be released into rivers nationwide.
Over the past 20-plus years, the Fisheries Department has
bred over 3 million giant catfish in an attempt to halt its decline.
This year the department will establish a giant catfish
breeding unit in the northern province of Chiang Rai to continue with the
breeding program.
Other giant catfish research programs include the fitting
of ultrasonic coded transmitters to determine their migratory habits, and
the development of giant catfish farming on a commercial basis. (TNA)
Thailand to gain from FTA with Japan
Thailand must gain from the proposed free trade agreement
with Japan, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday.
Representatives from Thailand and Japan are currently ironing out the
remaining problems in the draft Thai-Japan free-trade agreement (FTA),
Thaksin said during his weekly radio broadcast.
He said he had recently held talks with the chairman of
Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Federation who had expressed concerns
about the tariffs on Japanese exports of hot-rolled steel and cars with
engines of more than 3,000 cc.
Thaksin said he had explained that the Thai -Japan FTA
had to be fair to both countries and the more Japan opened its market to
Thai goods, the greater the increase in trade and employment.
Earlier this month, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the
Federation of Thai Industries accused Japan of wanting to destroy the
country’s hot-rolled steel industry by opening Thailand’s domestic
market to Japanese exports.
Japan asked Thailand during the recent trade talks to
immediately cut tariffs on hot-rolled steel. Thai negotiators asked for a
10-year protection period.
The two countries have reached an agreement in principal
on agricultural products including rice, sugar and starch but a wide gap
remains between the two sides on industrial goods. (TNA)
New labour rules in Rangoon not a worry,
says supreme commander
Thailand’s supreme commander urged Thai employers not
to worry too much about cheap labor shortage, saying that moves by Rangoon
to register their citizens working abroad will help ease the law enforcement
burden in Thailand.
Speaking to reporters, Gen. Chaisith Shinawatra said
Rangoon’s registration of migrant workers will take some time to complete.
Thai industries, including the fishing fleet, rely
heavily on cheap but, sometimes, illegal labor from Myanmar. The Myanmar
government recently issued a command for its citizens working in Thailand to
go home to register properly, promising they can return thereafter to work
in Thailand.
Gen. Chaisith urged Thai operators to see this as a
positive development. Dealing with paperwork will require more than a couple
of days, the supreme commander said.
While praising the government of Myanmar’s “act of
good will” to regulate the sector, Gen. Chaisith said Thai employers need
not worry too much that the pool of cheap labor will no longer be available.
“Please have sympathy for law enforcement officers who
need to constantly crack down on illegal migrant workers. After this
registration process, a system regulating migrant labor as applied in
civilized countries will be instituted,” said the supreme commander.
Gen. Chaisith added that it will be nice if Rangoon would
repatriate refugees currently detained in various centers who wish to
return. (TNA)
US company to expand earthquake monitoring in Thailand
A leading US seismic monitoring company is preparing to
expand its operations to Thailand in anticipation of the government opening
up bidding for a comprehensive earthquake warning system.
Henny Beeber, the engineering director of AES Group, who
represents the California-based Kinemetrics Inc. in Thailand, said that the
US company was poised to expand into Thailand as the bidding for the project
got underway.
Although the Meteorological Department initially said
that it would open up bidding for the 100 million baht project in February,
it later retracted its announcement, saying that some of the specifications
would need to be altered before the bidding process could begin.
Real time seismic monitoring projects offered by
Kinemetrics Inc. can immediately detect seismic movements, and are connected
to advance monitoring systems in several hundreds of locations across the
world.
This would allow considerable time for a warning to be
issued to the population, a factor considered crucial in the wake of the
December 26, in which over 5,000 people were killed in Thailand alone.
The Kinemetrics network also includes the US Geological
Survey, and is among the largest networks of its kind in the world.
Beeber said that the December tsunami highlighted the
urgent need for an advance warning system across the region.
A monitoring station in Thailand would provide
information for experts to make credible predictions of seismic movements,
while deep-sea buoys would provide additional data. (TNA)
Waste Management Siam helps clean up areas of Phang-nga after tsunami disaster
Waste Management Siam Co. Ltd. (WMS), an environmental
services company, in conjunction with donors, is now helping to clean up
areas of Ban Nam Khem Village in Amphur Takuapa, Phang-nga which was the
most heavily damaged area in Thailand during the December 26 tsunami
disaster. This area is being cleaned up and returned to a state at least as
clean as prior to the disaster, while predominantly utilizing the local
people.
About
100 jobless villagers have been employed daily to clean up in the aftermath
of the disaster.
WMS mobilized clean up equipment, trucks, containers and
trained staff to manage this project with 60-100 jobless villagers per day
being employed to cleanup in the aftermath of the disaster.
The local municipality, the village heads, and community
leaders have all welcomed the project, which is getting the locals back to
work tidying up their own village and seafront areas.
WMS welcomes further sponsorship and participation in
this transparent, visible, needed and positive contribution to the local
communities.
For further information please contact Sutthida Fakkum – WMS
communications manager – 02-2610264.
Government poised for nationwide overhaul of agricultural cooperatives
The deputy agriculture minister is preparing to propose a
compete overhaul of the nation’s agricultural cooperative system in a bid
to increase sales.
Newin Chidchob said that the plans were based on the idea
of direct sales and the creation of networks to encourage more people to
trade via the nation’s 6,000 cooperatives.
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and
Agricultural Cooperatives show that the annual value of goods purchased via
cooperatives average 5 million baht for each cooperative, making a combined
total of 30 billion baht. Newin hopes that a system based on direct sales
will greatly boost this figure.
Newin said that the revamp of the system and the
resultant higher sales figures would encourage cooperative officials to work
harder. At the same time, the overhaul would see changes in the goods
offered via the cooperative system in line with consumer demand.
At the end of the month the ministry will hold a workshop
on the proposals for cooperative officials nationwide, and the plans will be
put into action from May onwards. (TNA)
Health Ministry moves to address nurse shortfall
The Ministry of Public Health is moving to create at
least one nurse in every tambon of the country this year in order to help
address the nation’s shortfall of over 100,000 nurses.
According to statistics cited yesterday by the Permanent
Secretary for Public Health, Dr. Vichai Tienthavorn, the ministry is
currently lacking in 107,028 nursing graduates, with the current nurse to
patient ratio at one to 687.
What is particularly worrying for the ministry is that 80
percent of professional nurses are based in hospitals, despite the fact that
the ministry is keen to upgrade local and community health centers.
In order to address the problem, the ministry hopes to
create 32,932 nursing graduates over the next four years, and this year is
introducing nursing scholarships to enable one resident of every tambon in
the country to attend nursing college.
Dr. Vichai expressed hope that the scheme would help
reduce the nurse to patient ratio to one to 300. (TNA)
Farmers call for electric shock treatment for elephants
Local officials in Prachuab Khiri Khan have made a
desperate appeal to the government, urging them to permit the construction
of low-voltage electric fences to prevent herds of elephants from
encroaching on local pineapple fields.
In a continuation of the long-running battle between man
and beast in Kuiburi district, Chaliew Jermwongrattanachai, a member of the
Hat Kham tambon administrative organization, told reporters that around 130
elephants living in the Kuiburi National Park were now regularly coming out
of the jungle to eat the villagers’ pineapples.
Made desperate by the current drought, the herd is said
to be forming break-away factions, which then take over waterholes and
refuse access to smaller groups.
According to Chaliew, local residents are now forced to
watch over their fields 24 hours a day, but the elephants are so used to the
traditional methods of getting rid of them, including the use of torches and
firecrackers that they simply carry on munching.
Chaliew called on the government and elephant charities to address the
problem on a sustainable basis, urging the government to revive plans to
construct low-voltage electric fences to help protect the pineapple fields.
(TNA)
Tourism growth rate predicted ‘healthy’ despite tsunami: WTTC
The December tsunami is expected to inflict losses of
US$3 billion and 250,000 jobs on the global tourism industry this year.
However, it will have limited impact on the overall growth rate, which will
remain healthy, according to forecasts by the World Travel & Tourism
Council (WTTC).
Countries hardest hit by the tsunami will be Thailand,
Sri Lanka and the Maldives which are expected to lose US$1.2 billion and
94,780 jobs, US$201 million and 66,840 jobs and US$55 million and 10,440
jobs, respectively.
WTTC president, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, said, “The
tsunami was perhaps the most tragic humanitarian crisis of our lifetime.
Fortunately we have seen a massive response from governments and industry to
this tragedy...steps are well underway to restore these destinations and
bring back the visitors.”
Meanwhile, WTTC reported record robust recovery starting
from 2004 that should continue through 2005. About 2.1 million new jobs
should be created, encompassing all components of travel and tourism
consumption, investment, government spending and exports. The global tourism
industry is expected to grow 5.4 per cent and total US$6.2 trillion.
The report also forecasts a strong 10-year growth outlook
at 4.6 per cent annually from 2006 to 2015. “We turned the corner in 2004
and it’s full steam ahead. Much of the pent up demand from three previous
years of terrorism, war and health concerns has been released in a record
level of travel and tourism demand,” Baumgarten said. (TTG Asia)
Tourists complain of sky-high prices in Rayong
Visitors to the eastern province of Rayong have submitted
a complaint to the local Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office
complaining of hoteliers and restaurateurs doubling their prices over the
Songkran vacation.
Officials from the TAT’s Region 4 office said that they
had received a huge number of complaints accusing hotels, guesthouses and
resorts of not only putting their prices up by 100 percent, but also
providing sub-standard service and raising restaurant bills.
Visitors to one resort complained of having their hotel
rooms broken into, while hotel staff looked on and refused to take
responsibility.
The TAT warned that hoteliers engaging in such practices
were severely damaging the province’s tourism reputation, while noting
that they had issued warnings to hoteliers in the past, but their pleas had
been ignored. (TNA)
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to new temple chapel
On April 14 hundreds of thousands of worshippers from
Thailand and abroad crowded into Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan in the central
province of Chachoengsao to see one of the most revered Buddha images in the
land housed in a new temporary chapel.
Packing into the chapel specially opened for the Songkran
festival, worshippers adorned ‘Luang Pho Sothon’, as the legendary image
is popularly known, with gold leaf as a way of making merit.
Eyewitnesses spoke of people having to fight their way to
get near the image, while roads round the temple became bottlenecks of
traffic.
In anticipation of the popularity of the image over the
Songkran period, the temple authorities had even set up a replica Luang Pho
Sothon near the temporary chapel for worshippers to pour water over. (TNA)
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