Bangkok Post
Activists have voiced their opposition to Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi’s plan to divert water from the Salween and Mekong rivers to feed the water-starved Northeast. The proposed projects are not the right solution to the drought problem in the region, they said.
Mr Plodprasop, who chairs the government’s Water Management and Flood Prevention Commission, said last week that the body is considering three options to increase the water supply in northeastern provinces, which have long suffered from shortages, especially in the annual dry season.
The options are to divert water either from the Mekong or Salween rivers, or from other waterways in Laos.
Whichever is chosen, the project is likely to cost 100 billion baht and should get under way within the next few years, Mr Plodprasop said.