An adviser to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is trying to revive a Bt200billion project to build an 88km tunnel linking Burma’s Salween River and Thailand’s Bhumibol Dam.
“The investment will be well worth it,” Uthen Chatpinyo said yesterday. During the 2011 flood crisis, Uthen chaired the waterdrainage committee of the Flood Relief Operations Centre.
Uthen described the project as a solution to both flooding and water shortages.
He said water management at Tak’s Bhumibol Dam should be adjusted and the reservoir’s water level lowered in preparation for possible rainstorms throughout the year. The dam could then play a role as a waterretention area, he said.
Uthen said the tunnel, when built, would be able to send 3,000 cubic metres of water to the Bhumibol Dam per second. The volume should be large enough to generate electricity, he said.