CHATRUDEE THEPARAT
Bangkok Post
Tourism executives are urging the government to help speed up efforts to alleviate low water levels in the Mekong River.
"Cruise operators for tourism are now being hard hit by the severe drying of the Mekong River. Many of them have suspended their services because of a sharp drop in tourists," said Vipat Kanchanapairoj, a cruise operator and managing director of the Chiang Saen River Hill Hotel.
Currently, it takes two days to complete a journey from Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai province to Luang Prabang in Laos. The journey normally takes just one day, and the result for boat operators has been higher operating costs that they have to pass on to their customers. The hardest hit have been cargo boats, Mr Vipat said.
Water levels in the Mekong have been affected by the construction of two dams upstream in China, where a third is now planned. The new dam in Xiaowan, slated for completion in 2010, is the latest in a series of eight hydro-electric dams China plans for the river in a bid to counter floods and retain water.
The Mekong River water crisis was raised at a Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) summit held in Kunming in 2004, but China ignored the issue. The GMS consists of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.
The issue would be raised again at the next GMS meeting in the Philippines in June, said Arkhom Termpittayapaisit, deputy secretary to the National Economic and Social Development Board and a senior Thai delegate to the group.
Mr Arkhom suggested the issue would be better raised with the Mekong River Commission, which is responsible for water utilisation from the river. The river is a lifeline for tens of millions of people in the downstream countries of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Current conditions, he said, might prompt Thai authorities to reconsider the necessity of building a second port at Chiang Saen.
Construction of the second port is scheduled to begin in October 2007 with completion a year later, at a cost of 1.1 billion baht. The new port is designed to serve 25 ships simultaneously and would take over all cargo handling from the existing facility.
Three ministries - Finance, Transport and Industry - are expected to make a decision on the new port prior to the GMS meeting in June, Mr Arkhom said. However, he added, the second Chiang Saen bridge with a total investment of 1.6 billion baht would go ahead as planned because the land transport link plays a significant role for trade and tourism.
Construction on the bridge is expected to start next year and be completed in 2011.
Pattana Sitthisombat, the chairman of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, urged the government to move ahead with plan to construct the second port to ease traffic. He said Thailand would lose competitiveness and face greater logistics costs unless its river port infrastructure could be expanded.
According to Mr Pattana, trade through Chiang Rai checkpoints is increasing by 10-20% a year, with the value through Chiang Saen worth about six billion baht annually.
"Cruise operators for tourism are now being hard hit by the severe drying of the Mekong River. Many of them have suspended their services because of a sharp drop in tourists," said Vipat Kanchanapairoj, a cruise operator and managing director of the Chiang Saen River Hill Hotel.
Currently, it takes two days to complete a journey from Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai province to Luang Prabang in Laos. The journey normally takes just one day, and the result for boat operators has been higher operating costs that they have to pass on to their customers. The hardest hit have been cargo boats, Mr Vipat said.
Water levels in the Mekong have been affected by the construction of two dams upstream in China, where a third is now planned. The new dam in Xiaowan, slated for completion in 2010, is the latest in a series of eight hydro-electric dams China plans for the river in a bid to counter floods and retain water.
The Mekong River water crisis was raised at a Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) summit held in Kunming in 2004, but China ignored the issue. The GMS consists of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.
The issue would be raised again at the next GMS meeting in the Philippines in June, said Arkhom Termpittayapaisit, deputy secretary to the National Economic and Social Development Board and a senior Thai delegate to the group.
Mr Arkhom suggested the issue would be better raised with the Mekong River Commission, which is responsible for water utilisation from the river. The river is a lifeline for tens of millions of people in the downstream countries of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Current conditions, he said, might prompt Thai authorities to reconsider the necessity of building a second port at Chiang Saen.
Construction of the second port is scheduled to begin in October 2007 with completion a year later, at a cost of 1.1 billion baht. The new port is designed to serve 25 ships simultaneously and would take over all cargo handling from the existing facility.
Three ministries - Finance, Transport and Industry - are expected to make a decision on the new port prior to the GMS meeting in June, Mr Arkhom said. However, he added, the second Chiang Saen bridge with a total investment of 1.6 billion baht would go ahead as planned because the land transport link plays a significant role for trade and tourism.
Construction on the bridge is expected to start next year and be completed in 2011.
Pattana Sitthisombat, the chairman of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, urged the government to move ahead with plan to construct the second port to ease traffic. He said Thailand would lose competitiveness and face greater logistics costs unless its river port infrastructure could be expanded.
According to Mr Pattana, trade through Chiang Rai checkpoints is increasing by 10-20% a year, with the value through Chiang Saen worth about six billion baht annually.
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