The cabinet approved a budget of more than 4.5 billion baht yesterday to help households affected by flooding in southern provinces last year and to finance post-flood rehabilitation and development projects.
Speaking after a mobile cabinet meeting in Songkhla's Hat Yat district, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that a budget allocation of 304.8 million baht will be directed towards a total of 22 projects to repair flood-damaged infrastructure in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. The projects were proposed by the National Economic and Social Development (NESD).
An allocation of 300 million baht was approved for 23 similar projects, also proposed by the NESD, for Songkhla, Surat Thai, Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The cabinet also approved a fund of 3.65 billion baht from the central fund for emergency purposes to compensate more than 405,969 households affected by flooding in the South late last year, Ms Paetongtarn said. The cash aid was proposed by the Interior Ministry.
She added that the cabinet approved, in principle, 12 projects worth 300 million baht from the private sector. They include infrastructure development projects in the South, a project seeking to clear weeds in the Thalae Noi wetland in Phatthalung, and projects seeking to promote community tourism in the South.
Meanwhile, a group of protesters submitted a letter to Ms Paetongtarn, calling on the government to scrap the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) project.
It said the project would widen the gap between local residents and investors, who would gain more access than they should to natural resources.
Somboon Khamheng, leader of the Coordinating Committee of NGOs in the South, which gathered in Songkhla, voiced his disappointment with the prime minister's trip to the South, saying locals did not have a chance to express their concern about the government's move to establish the SEC.
He said that under the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) bill, which is required for the project to continue, enforcement of certain laws would be suspended to facilitate investment, especially the land law, the natural resources management and conservation law.
Mr Somboon said the group disagreed with any bill that would grant such privileges to a select group of people.
The SEC will cover four southern provinces -- Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The SEC also covers the Land Bridge project connecting Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand to Ranong on the Andaman Sea.
That would see a deep-sea port in both provinces, plus a motorway and a railway system connecting them, which are expected to improve logistics.
However, Ms Paetongtarn said yesterday that the government is ready to listen to people's concerns and that it is the government's duty to explain how the project will benefit them.