Citizens Complained, Court Rules: Bangkok Has to Halt Multi-Million-Dollar Project to Let River Flow

A court in Bangkok, Thailand asked authorities to stop work on an elevated riverside promenade, after listening to urban planners and environmentalists’ warnings that it would worsen flooding and displace hundreds of families whose lives depend on the river.

The administrative court has told the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) that the 7-kilometre-long promenade on the Chao Phraya river would hurt both river transport and the ecology. The BMA is now ordered to submit a blueprint for the 266-million-dollar project in the next month.

“The court’s decision is a very good one, and shows the court listened to our concerns about the project,” says Ajaphol Dusitnanond, president of an industry lobby group in Bangkok called the Association of Siamese Architects.

“We all agree the riverside needs redevelopment, but that does not mean we can build into the river and damage its flow,” he adds to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We hope that the BMA will listen to us now.”