The government has vowed to take on board His Majesty the King's advice on flood management and will ensure all flooded areas are dry before the end of the year, Prime Minister Yingluck said.
The government's promise was in response to His Majesty the King's birthday message on Monday urging all sides to work together to solve flood problems and to come up with projects for sustainable water management.
The King also called on everyone to put aside their differences and support each other so their tasks could be achieved for the public good.
Ms Yingluck said after the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday that the government will follow the King's advice as guidelines on flood management efforts.
Ms Yingluck also said Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit has been instructed to supervise and expedite efforts to drain all flooded communities.
Editorial: Heed the King's Advice
The Finance Ministry has been told to consider how best to help people whose homes, cars and motorcycles were damaged by the floods, she said.
She also said Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, director of the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc), had been told to ease conflicts among flood-hit people through peaceful means and understanding.
Deputy government spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard said that between 80 and 100 communities in Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi were still flooded to varying degrees.
Ms Yingluck stressed that these communities must be quickly drained and dry by the end of the year so that people can return home in time to celebrate the New Year happily, Mr Anusorn said.
Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said City Hall will study details of royal projects introduced to tackle floods in 1995 to see how they could be implemented.
City Hall will also set up a committee which will work with the government and other provinces to prepare for the floods next year, MR Sukhumbhand said.
Seree Supratid, a member of the government-installed Strategic Committee for Water Management, said Ms Yingluck, who chaired a committee meeting yesterday, told the the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) to draw up a master plan for short-term and sustainable flood management. The plan must be submitted to the committee for approval within two weeks, Mr Seree said.
He said the prime minister is confident that when the master plan is implemented, Bangkok will be safe from flooding in the next six months when the new rainy season sets in.
NESDB secretary-general Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, as secretary to the committee, gave an assurance that the NESDB will complete the master plan within two weeks.
He said the plan will cover flood control engineering, a database system to predict amounts of water, construction of water retention areas, compensation, city planning, a flood management organisation and sources of funding to support the operations.
Budget Bureau director Worawit Jampeerat said Ms Yingluck will call a special cabinet meeting soon to review the budget for restoring flood-damaged public facilities to prevent duplication of projects proposed by various agencies.
Many agencies have asked for amounts that far exceed the emergency budget to fund flood relief which is set at about 120 billion baht, Mr Worawit said.
He said the cabinet will also review the approved 50 billion baht flood-relief budget to ensure more clarity in spending and to reduce duplication of proposed projects.
Mr Worawit added that a total 45.8 billion baht has been earmarked for post-flood rehabilitation of the economy.
Deputy army chief Dapong Rattanasuwan said the armed forces were ready to act on His Majesty's advice and will support the government's flood management efforts.
Gen Dapong said army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered concerned army agencies to draw up flood management measures to present to the government's agencies.
Army personnel are also willing to dig water catchment ponds, or kaem ling (monkey cheeks) to store water to prevent floods if asked to, Gen Dapong said.
Pramote Maiklad, former director-general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said all sides should heed the monarch's advice on flood management and that water experts and engineers must be brought in to brainstorm ideas on how to cope with floods and manage water resources.
The government must also make construction of floodways a national agenda, Mr Pramote said, adding that any projects to build floodways must be long-term and have to be followed up by future governments.
Mr Pramote stressed the need to make a serious attempt to correct unregulated town planning which is also to blame for serious flooding.
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