Plan mulled to cut channel through Bangkok roads

A group of engineers led by a Toyota Motor Thailand executive yesterday suggested that the government cut sections through five roads in eastern Bangkok to speed up the flow of water into the sea.

Ninnart Chaithirapinyo, vice chairman of Toyota Motor Thailand, led a group of engineers and water resource experts to meet PM Yingluck Shinawatra. They told her that Pracha Ruamjai, Rat Uthit, Suwinthawong, Ruam Patthana and Nimit Mai roads were standing in the way of the large masses of water from upstream provinces heading for the Gulf of Thailand.

"The proposal calls for 5 to 6 metres of the road to be cut through. We are mobilising private contractors to help. The government will have to make a decision and determine if this will affect residents," Ninnart said.

He said that the engineers came up with the proposal after it was found that the pumping water out of Bangkok was inefficient. "We went into the area [on Wednesday] and found that the water pumps were working at only 30-per-cent capacity because the water flow was blocked by many roads," he said.

After meeting with Ninnart's group, Yingluck assigned Transport Minister ukampol Suwannathat to meet with them and representatives from relevant state agencies such as the Highway Department, Royal Irrigation Department and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in order to assess the pros and cons of the proposal.

The group later boarded a helicopter to survey the roads included in the plan.

Transport minister all for it

The transport minister agreed that some roads were blocking the run-off and should be cut through to speed up the flow, if necessary. These include Bang Na-Trat Road. He did not think severing the road would adversely affect traffic to the eastern seaboard, as there was the elevated Burapha Withi expressway linking Bangkok's Bang Na district and Chon Buri province.

However, Seri Suparathit, an expert in public disasters from Rangsit University, yesterday expressed opposition to the plan, saying it would not work as the water level in the eastern Bang Pakong River was higher than that in Bangkok.

He suggested that the best solution would be to remove the floodwalls along Canals 9 to 13 and focus on pumping water out at 50 million cubic metres per second.