Thailand -- Bias in Resource

Thailand -- Bias in resource allocation

To the Minster of Planning

Re: Urban bias in infrastructure planning in Thailand

Recently there have been allegations that there is a strong urban bias and favoritism regarding government allocations of resources and funds for the development of infrastructure improvements in the nation of Thailand. For instance, the American engineering firm Pate recently embarked upon a $2 billion sewerage expansion program in Bangkok, Thailand. The project included two new wastewater treatment plants to treat 222,000 cubic meters of wastewater daily and was designed to intercept the wastewater generated in these areas. "Now, the water flows into canals, and conveys it to the treatment plants," the engineers from the company touted proudly upon the organization's official website. (Pate 2004)

American as well as Thai employees were deployed in the construction of this project. However, virtually all of the Thai professional employees utilized were urban in their education and background. Moreover, despite the enormity of this effort, and the establishment of a vital contact with a United States business, rural areas have an even greater crying need for better sewerage transportation systems, which have since been ignored. Currently, it is planned that this project will be constructed in two separate districts in Bangkok but will not be expanded to rural areas of the nation, because the current network of roads to not allow this.

The pumps used in the Bangkok sewerage expansion program "are centrifugal, non-clogging submersible pumps capable of passing two-inch diameter solids," and the pump stations are designed for automatic operation and have local and remote alarms." Thus, the nature of the apparatus could be functional in rural as well as urban settings. The only problem is transportation of construction materials, and the lack of money allocated to the potential project. Moreover, "pump station wet wells and valve vaults will be constructed as pre-cast concrete shafts" that are ideal to protect against naturally occurring toxins such sulfides, which are quite prevalent in the country. But "the contract is the third of eight that will eventually be let in the city's 12-year program to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities for its 12 million residents" is for the capital city alone, as have the majority of such sewage improvement projects. (Pate 2004) Such projects do not only improve the quality of life of residents, they also generate jobs in urban but not rural areas, and better sanitation encourages more people to live in the cities and flee the countryside, causing a population imbalance common in Asia.

The massive road and telecommunications systems that have been constructed in the capital have not made their way to country, which is shocking and inexcusable, given the smaller size of Thailand, as opposed to China, another nation afflicted by a similar imbalance of regional resources. (Asia Hub, 2004) of course, it has been alleged that given the greater education of the population and potential for urban expansion, this is out of necessity for the commercial interests currently concentrated in the capital. But this, with no pun intended, and no mean to raise the sensitive subject of the 'bird flu' raises the old 'chicken and egg question' -- are the urban sectors more educated and more profitable by nature, or because of greater government engagement with such sectors, financially, despite the investment of the rural population, agriculturally, in the development of Thailand. (World Bank, 1999)