The Nation
October 4, 2000

Bangkok – Construction of the controversial Samut Prakan wastewater treatment plant ran into difficulties yesterday when local fishermen drove workers out of their area.

Yesterday morning about 30 boats of local fishermen opposed to the project surrounded a contractor’s boat working three kilometres off Samut Prakan’s Klong Dan area and demanded that it leave.

“Stop whatever you are doing and leave our waters now,” the leader of the local opposition, Dawan Jandrahasadi, told the crew on the contractor’s boat.

A small boat carrying six officials from the project site tried to approach the contractor’s boat but was blocked by the fishermen’s boats.

Finally, at 4pm, the contractor’s boat left the area and headed for the mouth of the Chao Phya River near Bangkok.

“We didn’t hurt these people because we understand they are just workers. And they understood our point and left the area as we asked,” Dawan told The Nation.

“How can they do this to us? We have tried to convince the project’s owner [the Pollution Control Department] that this project is not worth constructing and will destroy our community and fishery. But they didn’t listen to us and continued with the construction,” she said.

“If they don’t like discussion, we will give them local fighting,” she said.

However, the director of the PCD’s water quality management division said the incident may have occurred because of a misunderstanding by the villagers.

“They think the boat is a construction boat [which will affect their seashell farming], but in fact it is just a soil survey boat,” Yuwaree Inna said.

But Dawan said that the entire project is opposed, not just the construction of a drainage pipeline in the coastal area.

Construction of the Bt23.7 billion wastewater treatment plant has been proceeding for two years now despite local opposition.

The plant is designed to treat water discharged from both industrial and domestic sources in the area, with a total capacity of 520,000 cubic metres per day.