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Anand fails to attend first hearing



Anand fails to attend first hearing

Meeting expected to be held again today

Chakrit Ridmontri
Feb. 14, 1998
Bangkok Post

Members of the public information panel on the gas pipeline project called
off the first day's hearing yesterday because the panel's chairman, former
prime minister Anand Panyarachun, failed to appear.

After waiting for more than three hours for the scheduled hearing to begin,
the panelists agreed to start the talks again today.

Amnuay Patise, deputy secretary-general of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
told the panelists that Mr Anand was meeting with Mr Chuan and would soon
attend the talks. But after waiting for three hours, the panelists had had
enough.

"It's a waste of time. I canceled all my appointments this morning to join
the hearing but it looks like the chairman will not come," said Surapol
Sudara, a marine science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University and a panelist.

Mr Chuan appointed the panel comprising academics in various fields on
Thursday to sort out differences on the project's details between the
Petroleum Authority of Thailand, which is in charge of the pipeline laying,
and opponents.

The panelists are to spend 10 days to hear information from both sides,
form conclusions and pass them to the government for consideration. PTT has
agreed to halt its construction at two disputed areas while the forum is in
progress.

Project opponents who were to present their information to the panel
yesterday were disappointed with the government's bungling of the hearing.

"I've been waiting for this day for months. The government has been
unprepared," said Boonsong Chansongrassami, a leader of Kanchanaburi
Conservation Group.

But opponents said they would remain patient and wait for the hearing to
begin.

The opponents comprising conservation and grassroots groups want about six
of the 260 km of the pipeline to be rerouted from lush forests in
Kanchanaburi.

Some of them have been camping in the forest to block the PTT from cutting
trees to open up the pipeline corridor.