Could Chiang Mai be people's PM's first task?

[Bruce551]

Could Chiang Mai be people's PM's first task?

Vasana Chinvarakorn

19 Dec 08, BKK Post

One of the very first tasks the newly-selected prime minister Abhisit could do is to go to Chiang Mai tonight to attend a special meeting. In one go, the Oxford-educated leader would learn not only the urgent problems facing the locals there (which is incidentally the birthplace of Thaksin Shinawatra, the Democrats' arch-rival), but importantly, how public participation, a stepping stone towards true democracy, has been and should be exercised.

The theme of the meeting, to be held at the Old First Christian Church near Nawarat Bridge, is about the future of Chiang Mai. An initiative by a home-grown civic movement, it is a desperate but peaceful attempt to voice the people's vision and needs to the establishment. The focus is on the soon-to-be-revised city plan which proposes enlargement of the existing 35 streets, some to be as wide as 60 metres, throughout the municipality (80 in total have been slated for expansion for the whole city).

Basically, the people of Chiang Mai do not want to repeat the mistakes of Bangkok. They want a city they can live in - enjoyably. They do not want superhighways that will lead to their houses being torn down and age-old communities severed or wiped out. They value humans over cars.

Where I live in Chiang Mai, there are many reminisce of the old city more than 700 years old. This Plan (for stupid cars) is a travesty of justice and disrespectful of Lanna culture itself. Everybody is happy in little Nong Hoi, we don't need more roads, we need a good public transport system that is environmentally friendly and preserves the natural beauty of the city. We are at the precipice, destruction everything beautiful or new path to leads to a sustainable future.

The process by which the Chiang Mai city plan has been drawn up, however, is revealing of the chronic disease plaguing the whole of Thailand: lack of participation by those who will be affected. Very few locals have been informed of the details on the road expansion scheme, let alone consulted. After all, the draft by the provincial city planners will soon be forwarded for a final decision by the central committee based in Bangkok, which is responsible for every city plan in the Kingdom.

Such top-down development programmes are usually ambitious in nature. In the case of Chiang Mai, the northern city has been envisioned to be the "hub" of so many things - from the centre of northern Thailand to the regional hub of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (despite the fact that the city is not connected to the mighty river). Thus the continual sprouting of mega-projects around the valley of Chiang Mai. The city today boasts the Night Safari, a day-time zoo with an air-conditioned glass cage for pandas imported from China, a huge but arid botanical garden, five-star hotels, and all-year-round releases of Yi-peng balloons.

Unfortunately, the local residents have rarely been asked if they want this kind of progress in their hometown. In recent years, though, there have been a growing number of concerned citizens and academics who seek to curb such expansionist development.

Despite limited resources, they have from time to time succeeded in having several questionable projects suspended, reviewed, or cancelled altogether. After a vigorous series of campaigns, which included challenging the set of demographic statistics cited by local authorities, early this year a community around Wat Ket finally won its quest for a reclassification of the area from the high-population-density area to the so-called conservation-cum-residential area. It has been reputed to be one of the country's first few cases of changes in land use management being pushed from below.

But the latest plan on road expansion has caught the folks of Chiang Mai by surprise - and perhaps a little too late for rectification. According to relevant authorities, the 90-day grace period for public hearings with stakeholders expired on November 18. On the other hand, the civic network in Chiang Mai, calling themselves the Raksa Ban Raksa Muang Group, complained of the secretive and hush-hush way the announcement of the ever-bigger-roads scheme has been presented to the public. Tonight's meeting (actually held in the Wat Ket community) is thus another effort to put a brake on something that could still be saved, hopefully.

A few years ago, before former PM Thaksin rose to power, he had commissioned an extensive nationwide campaign to "listen" to different voices of civic and interest groups. Thus he was able to come up with platforms that seemed (initially) to take heed of people's needs. Indeed, part of his popularity with the masses is a reflection of the Democrats' aloofness to the people's plight.

Alas, as Thaksin's political clout became consolidated, he started to listen more to his (and his clique's) voices than to others, which contributed to his demise. Let's hope that PM Abhisit will not repeat Thaksin's mistakes - and also those of his predecessors from his own party.

Vasana Chinvarakorn is a senior writer for Outlook.

I hope PM Adhisit will side with people and not the special interests.

:!:

[sunsnow]

Interesting. Indeed, the good point is that Chiang Mai, they had planned for the city rapid bus network. But didn't that fall to something? Called not sensible enough? I mean, definetly, instead of making wider roads for more private cars, I definetly would support for diverting that money for those public busses. I bet 2bangkok has more on this, my memory is not so sure about this but I 100% sure that there was very recently plans for this kind of bus network....

[Neo]

The crazy thing is that in the town that loves Thaksin so much, they are having to fight against the self-serving money making schemes of their beloved (ex)leader. I certainly hope these megalomaniacal schemes can be halted before Chiang Mai as we now it is destroyed in the name of money.

[Jay7]

I would have thought Chiang Mai's managable size would make it an ideal walking city. Going down the Bangkok route of attempting to create wider roads and smaller footpaths sounds crap.

[sunsnow]

Little digging and typical:

these plans were published in 2005.

Secondly the bus plans to have finally buses from 19th century world in Thailand and in Chiang Mai were halted because of yes you guessed it:

Songtaew drivers were opposing it.

And local government is forceless in the face of any group that opposes them, even if the plans are clearly for the public good.

Songtaews are more dangerous, more polluting and more inefficient and more uncomfortable method of transportation.

Ofcourse they should continue being in business....<add heavy sarcastic tone>

:evil: :?

[Neo]

I would have thought Chiang Mai's managable size would make it an ideal walking city. Going down the Bangkok route of attempting to create wider roads and smaller footpaths sounds crap.

From what I heard it was so that the venerable Mr Thaksin could turn CM into a major trading post for his backdoor Chinese deals.

Part of the scheme is a big fat road to China bringing in all the produce and products to undermine the local economy, fill the back pockets of the powerful, and make more money for Mr Thaksin's good and gentle fiends in China.

[sunsnow]

Neo: What do you have against cheaper products? It is called international trade. Get used to it. It is not like Thais wouldnt want cheaper products too. To hell with pretentious "I will by only Made in MY Country" stuff, it is the money left in your wallet that counts. :roll:

ps. I also hear Thaksin has horns. Please, time to stop this "I heard about Finland plan etc etc". All the credibility of what ever is alleged about Thaksin business has gone long time out of the window when everyone just says things like what you just said. There was and is big plans for Chiang Mai. Hopefully. 66 million people in this country. And to this date there is only one city that one can speak of when it comes to international business. That is just sad.

[Neo]

Neo: What do you have against cheaper products? It is called international trade. Get used to it. It is not like Thais wouldnt want cheaper products too. To hell with pretentious "I will by only Made in MY Country" stuff, it is the money left in your wallet that counts. :roll:

It's not the cheaper products that I have an issue with, it's undermining the local industry. That's a major factor right now why the economy in rural areas is so f*cked.

ps. I also hear Thaksin has horns. Please, time to stop this "I heard about Finland plan etc etc". All the credibility of what ever is alleged about Thaksin business has gone long time out of the window when everyone just says things like what you just said.

So none of the schemes to put major roads through CM were anything to do with Thaksin making more money? Interesting viewpoint.

There was and is big plans for Chiang Mai. Hopefully. 66 million people in this country. And to this date there is only one city that one can speak of when it comes to international business. That is just sad.

It would be sad if one of Thailand's major tourist attractions and most wonderful areas was destroyed in the name of international trade. There are plenty of other areas that could be made into international trade parks. Let's have some respect for Thailand's cultural heritage (which is worth tourist $$$ too).

[PJack]

i was in Chiang Mai 91-95 and again 03-05. the second time i was a consultant with us govt and we engaged with governor of chiang mai and other business associations and sports and tourism national authorities and the local tesabaan authorities as well.

we had great ideas to retake some of the river and develop it for transport and also for events. we had plans to develop mass transit systems, to preserve areas, to reward locals for preserving their neighborhoods with financial incentives as well. we had money from abroad to do it including both NGO money and GO money.

the local decision makers of chiang mai (and probably other locations around thailand) are not interested in these sorts of things and they dont feel it is really possible to do so. in the end they will sell it to the inside payer and be done with it.

the only hope is to get a Thai civil movement and take control of the airport.

[Bruce551]

Health issues vs Traffic

Even more worrying is the potential for poor air quality to affect health in the long term. Particulate matter small enough to be breathed in is known as either PM10 or PM2.5, referring to dust particles smaller than 10 microns or 2.5 microns respectively. 'PM10 particles are small enough to be stored in the trachea, while PM2.5 matter is so minute that it can penetrate even deeper, into the alveoli, the air cells of the lungs," says Associate Professor Usanee Vinitketkumnuen of Chiang Mai University's Biochemistry Department. 'The PM10 dust causes irritation of the trachea that may lead to bronchitis or bronchial symptoms such as respiratory difficulties, a tight chest. This is particularly dangerous for asthma patients, children and elderly residents, who are at high risk when air pollution is above the maximum safety level. If we breathe in these dust particles over a long period of time, they can destroy the lung cells.

And if this happens repeatedly, there is the potential for gene mutation that finally becomes lung cancer.' Research conducted by CMU found that the highest rate of lung cancer in Thailand was in Saraphee, an area known for a frequently high concentration of PM10 dust particles.

Let's look deeper into the blacks, whites and blues of vehicle emissions. Every day you inhale some 10,000 litres of polluted air. Around Chiang Mai the streets offer a mix of the most consummate diesel, gasoline and natural gas pollutants any country can offer.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that diesel exhaust is around 40 times more carcinogenic (cancer causing) than cigarette smoke on a weight/volume basis. Add in a group of cancer causing compounds known as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which include formaldehyde, methane, benzene, phenol, 1-3-butadiene (base ingredient for synthetic rubber) and ammonia swirling around and you will understand why over the last six months so many travellers have complained about bad air around the city and subsequently decided to leave Chiang Mai days earlier than they had planned.

The answer: Lets built more & bigger roads so we can have many more cars & songtaews.

:x

[LakeGeneve]

Little digging and typical:

these plans were published in 2005.

Secondly the bus plans to have finally buses from 19th century world in Thailand and in Chiang Mai were halted because of yes you guessed it:

Songtaew drivers were opposing it.

And local government is forceless in the face of any group that opposes them, even if the plans are clearly for the public good.

Songtaews are more dangerous, more polluting and more inefficient and more uncomfortable method of transportation.

Ofcourse they should continue being in business....<add heavy sarcastic tone>

:evil: :?

Actually, there is also a light rail plan for Chaing Mai that was done drafted on 2004 and changed by OTP in 2006 building on the 2000 subway plan. The TRT made some committment to fund it in 2005 but not budget was allocated. The light rail plan for 3 lines would definately be much more suitable and cost effective for Chaing Mai than a subway. One can easily imagine old trams running narrow streets of the centre complemented with new light rail for the outer areas.

The 2000 subway plan -

It is really a beautiful city which requires appropriate mass transit network to protect the history and built culture of the city. Expanding the road network which is already quite good outside the centre would be a huge mistake without first providing some public transport (there are currently a few bus lines which run infrequently). I thinks PJacks third para adequately explains the problems which exist in implemention.

A concise overview of the previous transport plans can be read at 2bangkok; http://2bangkok.com/2bangkok/MassTransit/ChiangMain.shtml

It is also worth noting that the FIRST city planning scheme (yes it is 2008!) was released in January this year. It is still being revised and finalised as far as I am aware and has little on the transport implications. This should give some indication of the lack of intergrate planning by authorities. (Not that BMA still does not have a comprehensive transport plan for BKK). The concept of long term intergrate planning really seems to be still new in most thai cities.

Bangkok Post 12/01/08

The city's first fully-comprehensive zoning plan is splitting the country's second largest metro-polis and opponents are up in arms against the blueprint they say will be a "birth control pill" for the housing sector with many nasty side effects. The future of urban planning for Chiang Mai, also known as the "Rose of the North", now rests with the draft zoning plan, which is the first of its kind in the province, conceived with the vision of re-defining the layout of the city.

The plan promises to restore Chiang Mai's old-world charm and to help turn the province into an economic engine to accommodate the growth of the Greater Mekong Sub-region. But businesses have pointed to potential flaws in the plan prepared by Chiang Mai's public works and town planning office. They claim the plan has placed too much emphasis on conservation by designating areas around the ring roads as "green zones".

By definition, the areas will be reserved as the lungs of the city which are off-limits to commercial or industrial developments. Residential housing in the green zones is allowed but buildings in these areas must not be higher than 12 metres. However, the buildings can be no higher than nine metres if they are located within a 100-metre radius of a temple, and the city has many temples. There are 247 temples in Chiang Mai, according to town planning officials.

"My fear is that this plan is going to divide society," said Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce chairman Narong Tananuwat. "I expect the issue will eventually end up in court." Mr Narong said local businesses were not consulted about the plan. They feel the residential and commercial areas must be given room to expand because the city keeps growing. The plan appears to have lost sight with reality, he said.

A study conducted by Chiang Mai University expects the need for housing estates to rise from 345,552 units in 1990 to 401,996 units in 2015. The controversial plan would exacerbate the housing shortage, according to the Chiang Mai-Lamphun association of real estate agents. The Chiang Mai Federations of Thai Industry is also concerned the plan may ban the use of 429 square kilometres of land in seven districts for industrial purposes. The districts in question are San Sai, San Kamphaeng, Doi Saket, Saraphi, Hang Dong, Muang and Mae Rim. "It's like a birth control pill for everything. We won't be able to continue economic development," Mr Narong said.

If residents and businesses cannot relocate to suburban areas, they will be forced to stay within the inner city. Land prices in central Chiang Mai will skyrocket and traffic will be even worse, he said. The centre of Chiang Mai is notorious for traffic congestion and air pollution as more new cars hit the roads, while public transport is insufficient, say many locals.

Supporters of the plan, however, argue that it is time the city, which has grown without any real planning or system, was put in order. Many scholars and academics hope the plan will draw a clearer line separating the old quarters of the city and result in a better design for its cultural preservation policy. Opponents have been given 90 days of the plan being put into effect to lodge any petitions against it.

The Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce, business groups and some communities are reportedly seeking to review the plan. They insist the plan must not be implemented at the expense of economic progress. Mr Narong, however, said that all sides should come together to resolve any contentious issues. "Thailand is beset by too many conflicts already. It doesn't help adding to the social divisions," he said.