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Public Invited To Comment On Terms Of Reference For Independent Review Of Samut Prakarn Project

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (22 December 2000) - The Asian Development Bank has released Draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for an Independent Review to be set up to assess the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project in Thailand.

The Draft Terms of Reference are being distributed and have been posted on the ADB's web site, http://www.adb.org/projects/SamutPrakarn/. The ADB is inviting public comment on the consultation document over a one-month period, and will take all views into account before the document is finalized. Similarly, suggestions are being invited regarding nominations to undertake the review.

Suggestions should be submitted by January 21, 2001 by e-mail to Mr. Akira Seki, Director, Agriculture and Social Sectors Department (West), and/or Mr. Arjun Thapan, Manager, Water Supply, Urban Development and Housing Division (West) at SamutPrakarn@adb.org or by post to Asian Development Bank, 6 ADB Avenue, 0401 Manila, Philippines.

Last month, ADB and the Thai Government announced the commissioning of an independent review by international experts to assess the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project. It was agreed the timeframe, terms of reference and composition of the review team would be developed in consultation with civil society and stakeholders in the project.

The Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project, costing about US$750 million and partly financed by ADB (US$230 million), aims to improve the environment in one of Thailand's most polluted provinces. It is designed to manage industrial, commercial and residential wastewater that currently flows to the sea through open canals and rivers in a heavily populated area. The wastewater poses health hazards for up to a million people and pollutes large stretches of coastal areas in the Gulf of Thailand.

The project has adopted an integrated approach that tackles wastewater pollution both at source and final treatment point, representing a significant attempt to proactively minimize wastewater pollution. The project includes the collection and treatment of domestic and pretreated industrial wastewater. The treatment plant is designed to treat wastewater after industry has pretreated it to remove toxic elements in accordance with Thai Government standards. Under the project, the pretreated industrial wastewater will be collected by sewer pipes and carried to a treatment plant that is designed to further decompose and purify up to 525,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day. ADB believes that the Thai Government's approach to the wastewater management problem in Samut Prakarn is technically sound and will help to improve the environment.

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