Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt has defended the city’s flood-management strategy, rejecting claims that Bangkok had abandoned its royal “monkey-cheek” water-retention projects.
Mr Chadchart at City Hall on Thursday said that the social-media claims that Bangkok opposed or cancelled the projects were false. He said he had watched a video of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great’s Dec 4, 1995, speech on the monkey-cheek concept more than 10 times to understand its principles and apply them for public benefit.
He said the royal water-management approach included flood barriers, diversion routes, canal improvements, dams and monkey-cheek water retention areas. The principle involves temporarily storing excess water and releasing it when drainage conditions allow, he said.
An effective retention area requires three conditions: a suitable site, a route for bringing water into it and an efficient system for releasing it, he said. Large facilities therefore cannot be built effectively everywhere in the city, with site conditions and engineering data determining their suitability, he added.
After the 2011 epic floods, six retention areas were proposed in 2013 alongside canal improvements. Projects at Bueng Khubon and Bueng Bang Chan were estimated to cost about 11 billion baht, including more than 5-6 billion baht for acquiring private land.
Bangkok instead reviewed an alternative plan to improve the north-south canal network from Khlong Hok Wa Sai Lang to Khlong Prawet Burirom and upgrade drainage infrastructure, with an estimated cost of 6.5 billion baht.
Mr Chadchart said the review considered drainage efficiency, site suitability and investment value. The original sites involved substantial private land, requiring expropriation and systems to bring water into and out of the retention areas, he added. Improving existing canals and drainage infrastructure could achieve the same objective at lower cost, he noted.
He stressed that Bangkok had not abandoned the monkey-cheek concept and continues developing suitable projects. The city currently has 38 such projects, up from 34 in 2022, and plans to add seven more, he said.
Existing projects include Khlong Rahan-Khlong Khru, Bueng Sikan, the Lat Phrao 71 public pond and the Bang Khen Circle pond, he noted.
“Technical issues and value for money can be debated, but please do not link them to claims that we are not following the royal initiative,” Mr Chadchart said, adding that King Rama IX provided the core concept while specific locations required technical assessment.
His defence followed criticism from Korn Chatikavanij, a Democrat Party list MP and deputy party leader, who posted a map of Bangkok’s latest draft city plan on Facebook and questioned how areas designated for water absorption and monkey-cheek retention were treated.
The plan proposes changes to land-use zoning, including reduced rural and agricultural conservation areas in eastern Bangkok and Thon Buri (in the southern part of the city) to allow residential development, he said.
Five existing water-retention areas have also been removed, he added.
Mr Korn raised concerns about the changes and urged the public to consider their implications for long-term flood management.