On Sunday, Prime Minister Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra travelled to Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai Province to follow up on the government’s plans to solve the flood problem on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Ms. Paethongtarn told a press briefing that the Thai government is currently discussing a project with the Myanmar government to install four automatic tele-metering stations. Three stations will be on the Myanmar side and one on the Thai side of the Sai River.
She said her government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the governor of Tachilek Province, Myanmar, to allow the Royal Thai Army’s Department of Engineers to survey and create a plan to improve the Sai and Ruak Rivers.
If everything goes according to plan, the cabinet will submit a budget allocation request to the Ministry of Finance later this month. If so, the project would be completed in May 2025 or before the rainy season.
According to the plan, the Sai River will be dredged for 14.45 kilometres, and the Ruak River will be dredged for 30.89 kilometres. In addition, a flood barrier will be built along the Sai River for 3.96 kilometres.
Ms. Paethongtarn then travelled to the Chiang Rai International Convention and Exhibition Center, Rim Kok Subdistrict, to preside over the ceremony to present 72 national ID cards to people from various ethnic groups in Chiang Rai Province.
She apologized to the ethnic minority groups attending the ceremony, stating that the process to statehood has taken far too long in the past.
Therefore, she recommended a resolution to her Cabinet to resolve the problem and reduce the process to a maximum of five years.
Currently, nearly 500,000 ethnic people in Thailand are still waiting for statehood and their National Thai ID cards.
