Prime Minister Paethongtarn Shinawatra inspected the flood situation in Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai on Saturday, and listened to a summary report from the Department of Civil Engineering and the Mae Sai District Command Center.
There she helped assess the flood recovery situation and monitor the rehabilitation of the affected areas in Ban Ko Sai and Ban Pha Chom, Tambon Mae Sai, Amphoe Mae Sai.
The Mae Sai District Chief informed Ms. Paethongtarn that the mud on all 24 main roads, Sai Lom Joy Market, and the repair of Ban Mai Lung Khan School will be completed by Tuesday. The remaining areas would take another 45 days, and then situation is expected to return to normal by early November.
He said, the problem that people in the affected areas have is that some houses have been buried by mud and need to be repaired urgently. There were also 64 houses that were damaged beyond repair and the owners would receive a fair amount of compensation.
The Prime Minister also expressed her concern for Mueang Chiang Rai District as although the flooding was slower than Mae Sai District, it was still bad.
While in Mae Sai the Prime Minister rode with General Songwit Noonpakdee, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Armed Forces in a military vehicle into the hardest hit areas of Mae Sai and she was updated on the work being carried out to help flood victims.
During the trip, the Prime Minister visited villagers and officials who were working hard to clear mud and debris and gave encouragement, and urged the villagers to be patient for a while longer.
In addition, Ms. Paethongtarn ordered Pheu Thai Party MPs in Chiang Rai to inspect the availability of medical supplies and equipment, that need to be delivered to the people in the area, and asked if there was anything lacking or needed in order to deliver them as soon as possible.
When the Prime Minister and her entourage visited the Koh Sai community, the Royal Thai Army Engineers reported that the progress of removing mud in the area had progressed by about 40%, and they were providing medical support and, assistance.
The Prime Minister then visited the officials who came to help remove mud from the people’s houses where she greeted homeowners and asked about the work of the officials.
The Prime Minister encourage the officials to continue their hard work and that the government would continue to help. Thank you everyone, I will definitely not abandon you, she said.
Meanwhile Minister of Interior Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered Mr. Asit Sampanthat, the new Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, to Chiang Rai Province as the Governor of Chiang Rai is set to retire on September 30th.
Mr Anutin said he was concerned and wanted to make sure flood relief money to be transferred to the people as soon as possible. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior will oversee the funding of flood assistance claims and assure the money is distributed fairly.
Flood victims are to receive between 5,000 baht, and 9,000 baht depending on the amount of time flooding affected their homes and livelihoods.
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