Construction of all sea wall and breakwater projects will be required an environmental impact assessment (EIA) under a new ministerial edict from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which came into effect following its publication in the Royal Gazette today (Thursday).

The edict will not, however, be applied retroactively to projects for which budgets have already been allocated for implementation.

Sasin Chalermlarp, chairman of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, a leading environment protection organisation, welcomed the edict, but expressed concern that the EIA may turn out to be a tool with which to whitewash several projects which may threaten the environment.

He said that, in practice, the committee that considers the EIA of a project is powerless to stop a project, even if its EIA fails to get the approval of the committee, adding that, in most cases, the project owner will keep updating the EIA until, finally, the project is approved, possibly after some committee members who rejected the EIA have left.

Nevertheless, Sasin pointed to an advantage of the edict, namely that it may discourage state agencies from rushing their projects to secure funding, because of the need to conduct an EIA and, instead, opt for other projects which do not require one.

In December last year, several environment advocacy groups, under the umbrella organisation Beach for Life, rallied in front of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to demand all sea wall projects undergo an EIA, after the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning initiated 107 construction projects, worth about 6.6 billion baht, which may threaten their community’s way of life and ecological system.