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ADB and Government of Thailand Welcome Support of Independent Review for Centralized Approach of Samut Prakarn Project

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES (15 June 2001) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Thailand today welcomed the endorsement of the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Treatment Project as being of sound design by the Independent Review (IR) team set up to assess the project.

The Independent Review team of experts supports the view of ADB and the Thai Government that centralized wastewater treatment is the only viable option to significantly reduce wastewater pollution in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The report of the IR team says the project presents the Thai government with an opportunity to institute effective regulation and enforcement to control and decrease the gross pollution of waterways in the project catchment area.

"We are pleased that the Independent Review supports our view that a centralized approach is the most sound strategy for wastewater management in the Gulf of Thailand," said Mr. Sirithan Pairoj-Boriboon, Director General of Thailand's Pollution Control Department (PCD), the project's executing agency.

The US$750 million project, the first of its kind in Thailand, is being built by the Thai Government and partly financed by ADB (US$230 million) to improve the environment in the country's most polluted province. It uses an integrated approach that tackles wastewater pollution both at source and the final treatment point. The project is designed to manage industrial, commercial and residential wastewater that currently flows into the upper Gulf of Thailand and poses health and environmental hazards for up to a million people in Samut Prakarn province.

While endorsing the project, the report of the Independent Review made a number of recommendations to further improve the project's design and operation. These include extending an economic exclusion zone around the marine outfall and closer monitoring of the project when it begins operating. ADB and PCD said they would study the IR report recommendations carefully and generally viewed them as being very positive and would look at ways in which they could be woven into the project design.

"We take the work of the Independent Review team very seriously and will study the report carefully," said Mr. Sirithan. "Where improvements can be made, they will be made."

"We are very encouraged by this report and hope it will lead to a greater understanding of the project among all stakeholders, especially civil society," said Mr. Akira Seki, ADB's Director, Agriculture and Social Sectors Department (West).

The Independent Review, led by environmental and water quality specialist Dr Kevin Boland, was initiated by ADB and PCD. The three-person IR team began its work in mid-March and completed it recently. The IR's task was to conduct a comprehensive review of the project, including the draft environmental management plan.

For further details about the Project review ADB's site here and PCD's web site.

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*The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Directors or the governments they represent. ADB makes no representation concerning and does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.

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