Gold plated bamboo and a thousand barrels a day? (how can land be worth that?)
It's a familiar story, the impoverished farmer driving his million baht pick-up - paying off at 2,000 baht a month - leads us to his plot of land, we climb to the highest point and he describes the boundaries with an outstretched finger, tells us how he cleared the forest with his own hands, planted the now dead citrus trees himself, how his family helped him install the now defunct and never maintained irrigation system.
There is a sadness in his eyes, a dead dream perhaps, it was all going to be so easy, this time this year he was going to be a millionaire fruit farmer, paid off pick-up and new concrete house.
The land was free but for the work, the loan for the car was secured against it and was easy, as were the loans for irrigation system and the trees, to obtain no difficult questions asked, sign here please.
So we need grazing room, he needs money, the paperwork's an issue, it says he cannot sell to anyone outside the family but who reads the paper anyway? The village gossip system says so and so sold his and no-one stopped him, can't buy without paper? Have to be whiter than white for the Foundation? No problem we can rent - not ideal but we can - let's talk about the price...
...we can keep a straight face back to the car before the laughter erupts, we don't want to make him lose face, this is his dream he's losing. Give him a couple of days and he'll see sense and have a reasonable offer.- what can possibly make him think this little piece of steep, dry bamboo scrub is worth that we ask when the price is repeated, are the bamboo leaves made of gold? Is there oil hidden beneath the ground?
So what's going on? The fruit growing dream is obviously still alive to some extent but folks are beginning to realise the work involved, the village gossip (always an exaggerator of prices) say that people are paying 1,000,000 baht a rai in places but who? ...and why?
Some say foreign and Bangkok businessmen, they're going to build resorts they say - well that could be our fault, we have two successful resorts here and the local perception is that they are licenses to print money, we can afford pay our staff treble the going rate so an hotel must be a pot of gold must it not? No one locally would pay their staff more than strictly necessary unless they had money to burn.
Well we know, the Bangkok businessmen and the few who've built small scale places know this isn't true, so it must be something else, must be speculation of some sort, people who know things we don't.
Perhaps an explanation can be found deep in the forum thread below - a little about Chiang Saen to start with and then, hidden deeper in all the arguments about railways and development, some points from Chiang Khong, just down the river, and the speculation by people who can afford wait for development that may never actually arrive that is driving local people to sell for short term small gains and become tenants on their own land.
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Firstly from the Thai Government's PR department website.
....and then something from a non-official forum that dug a little deeper into the development promises of this route - something mooted, suggested and surveyed since the 1860's (although the British wanted to build the railway up the river rather than overland)...
A BRIDGE TOO FAR Many local residents are still not convinced the project will take off Story by NAOWARAT SUKSAMRAN and SUBIN KHEUNKAEW BKK Post 18/02/07
Upon hearing the news that the cabinet had approved construction of a new Thai-Lao bridge over the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district, residents living around the bridge site responded with delight, convinced that the news would further boost land prices in the area. China has agreed to share the 1.09-billion-baht construction cost of the 400-metre-long bridge with Thailand under the Greater Mekong Sub-region scheme. The bridge, if constructed, will link Chiang Rai's Chiang Khong district and Houayxay, the capital of Bokeo province in Laos.
But many in Chiang Khong district are still not convinced the government would implement the project. "Will they really do it? We've heard about the project since the Chatichai Choonhavan (JR note: 1988 - 1991) government. We hear about the plan every now and then, but we've never seen the construction take off," said a resident of Don Mahawan community, which is adjacent to the bridge site on the Thai side. "And the government that has approved its construction is an interim one, not a permanent government," said another resident.
News about its planned construction has influenced the lives of local residents significantly over the past decade as land prices in communities around the bridge site, including the nearby Pak Ing Nua community, have steadily gone up. In those communities, the land is sold at between 400,000 and 500,000 baht per rai, while the land closer to the Mekong River bank can fetch up to one million baht per rai.
A tour operator in Chiang Khong said before the Chatichai Choonhavan government came up with the plan, land prices in Chiang Khong were only ranging between 4,000 and 5,000 baht per rai. Tempted by soaring land prices following the announcement of the bridge project by the Chatichai regime, most of the Don Mahawan and Pak Ing Nua residents then sold off their land to outsiders and turned themselves into tenants on the same plots. "I sold my land five years ago at 40,000 baht per rai," said 66-year-old Sa-nguan Khamtan. After selling his six-rai plot, he bought a car and gave the rest of the money to his children. Like his neighbours, he now lives on the six-rai plot he rents from the same person he sold the land to.
Panya Taengmo, another Don Mahawan resident, said whenever there is news that the government will soon build the bridge, land prices in his community shoot up again and then drop a bit after there is no sign of actual construction. Khamphan Thammawong, who runs a large business selling decorative stones in the neighbourhood, said his family members are snapping up more land after hearing the latest construction plan. Right now he owns more than three rai of land next to the river bank himself. Mr Khamphan believes the construction plan is for real this time as the Lao government has already expropriated land around the bridge site on the Lao side.
According to the tour operator, most owners of land around the bridge site are local and national politicians. However, some have purchased large land plots on behalf of Chinese business operators keen to build warehouses near the bridge. Prayuth Phothi, the Don Mahawan village headman, said 70% of the residents in his community have already sold their land. The locals make a living by collecting stones from the Mekong River and selling them as decorative stones for landscaping.
Mr Prayuth said there is also a plan to build an industrial estate on a 16,000-rai plot in Tambon Sri Donmool, which would help to create more jobs. Since the collecting of stones from the river for sale is illegal, the bridge would make it easier for law enforcement authorities to see residents that are collecting stones from the river, said Mr Prayuth.
There is a sadness in his eyes, a dead dream perhaps, it was all going to be so easy, this time this year he was going to be a millionaire fruit farmer, paid off pick-up and new concrete house.
The land was free but for the work, the loan for the car was secured against it and was easy, as were the loans for irrigation system and the trees, to obtain no difficult questions asked, sign here please.
So we need grazing room, he needs money, the paperwork's an issue, it says he cannot sell to anyone outside the family but who reads the paper anyway? The village gossip system says so and so sold his and no-one stopped him, can't buy without paper? Have to be whiter than white for the Foundation? No problem we can rent - not ideal but we can - let's talk about the price...
...we can keep a straight face back to the car before the laughter erupts, we don't want to make him lose face, this is his dream he's losing. Give him a couple of days and he'll see sense and have a reasonable offer.- what can possibly make him think this little piece of steep, dry bamboo scrub is worth that we ask when the price is repeated, are the bamboo leaves made of gold? Is there oil hidden beneath the ground?
So what's going on? The fruit growing dream is obviously still alive to some extent but folks are beginning to realise the work involved, the village gossip (always an exaggerator of prices) say that people are paying 1,000,000 baht a rai in places but who? ...and why?
Some say foreign and Bangkok businessmen, they're going to build resorts they say - well that could be our fault, we have two successful resorts here and the local perception is that they are licenses to print money, we can afford pay our staff treble the going rate so an hotel must be a pot of gold must it not? No one locally would pay their staff more than strictly necessary unless they had money to burn.
Well we know, the Bangkok businessmen and the few who've built small scale places know this isn't true, so it must be something else, must be speculation of some sort, people who know things we don't.
Perhaps an explanation can be found deep in the forum thread below - a little about Chiang Saen to start with and then, hidden deeper in all the arguments about railways and development, some points from Chiang Khong, just down the river, and the speculation by people who can afford wait for development that may never actually arrive that is driving local people to sell for short term small gains and become tenants on their own land.
___________________________
Firstly from the Thai Government's PR department website.
| The Second Port in Chiang Saen District of Chiang Rai (24/10/2007) |
 A new port will be constructed in Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai province in the North. The Cabinet, during its meeting on October 16, approved the construction project, which will contribute greatly to Thailand’s logistics development.The project, which will be the second port in Chiang Saen, involves a budget of 1.5 billion baht and construction work will begin in 2009. The Ministry of Transport reported that the first Chiang Saen port had become too small to accommodate the rapid growth of trade and transportation between Thailand and China. The expansion of the first port is not allowed, since it is located in a designated historical site and deserves being preserved as part of the national heritage. Moreover, the Treasury Department is developing this district to be registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site. This historical site will also be promoted as a major tourist destination in northern Thailand. The Marine Department under the Ministry of Transport has conducted a survey of the site and designed the second Chiang Saen port. The objective is to develop the transport network for the country’s economic activities. This development project will promote Thailand as the center for trade, investment, and transport in the upper Mekong subregion, linking with southern China. The Ministry of Transport told the Cabinet that the second Chiang Saen port project should receive support in accordance with the country’s financial and economic status. The project is also in line with the Government’s policy, the current 10th National Economic and Social Development Plan, and Thailand’s logistics development strategy, 2007 to 2011. The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board is taking urgent steps to make Thailand a logistics center in this region. The steps are in line with the country’s effort to reduce energy use. Water transport can save energy and money to a great extent. The construction of the second Chiang Saen port will be done in conjunction with another bridge across the Mekong River, which is being planned in Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai. The bridge will facilitate trade and transport between China, Laos, and Thailand. The new port of Chiang Saen will also help develop Chiang Rai into a major trade gateway between Thailand and southern China. The gateway will serve as a factor to bring about development on a continual basis. With railway development to this gateway and port development in the Andaman Sea, Thailand will be able to provide a multimodal transport corridor and open up a new trade lane, linking with southern China, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The second port in Chiang Saen is cited as important for Thailand’s future growth. |
....and then something from a non-official forum that dug a little deeper into the development promises of this route - something mooted, suggested and surveyed since the 1860's (although the British wanted to build the railway up the river rather than overland)...
A BRIDGE TOO FAR Many local residents are still not convinced the project will take off Story by NAOWARAT SUKSAMRAN and SUBIN KHEUNKAEW BKK Post 18/02/07
Upon hearing the news that the cabinet had approved construction of a new Thai-Lao bridge over the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district, residents living around the bridge site responded with delight, convinced that the news would further boost land prices in the area. China has agreed to share the 1.09-billion-baht construction cost of the 400-metre-long bridge with Thailand under the Greater Mekong Sub-region scheme. The bridge, if constructed, will link Chiang Rai's Chiang Khong district and Houayxay, the capital of Bokeo province in Laos.
But many in Chiang Khong district are still not convinced the government would implement the project. "Will they really do it? We've heard about the project since the Chatichai Choonhavan (JR note: 1988 - 1991) government. We hear about the plan every now and then, but we've never seen the construction take off," said a resident of Don Mahawan community, which is adjacent to the bridge site on the Thai side. "And the government that has approved its construction is an interim one, not a permanent government," said another resident.
News about its planned construction has influenced the lives of local residents significantly over the past decade as land prices in communities around the bridge site, including the nearby Pak Ing Nua community, have steadily gone up. In those communities, the land is sold at between 400,000 and 500,000 baht per rai, while the land closer to the Mekong River bank can fetch up to one million baht per rai.
A tour operator in Chiang Khong said before the Chatichai Choonhavan government came up with the plan, land prices in Chiang Khong were only ranging between 4,000 and 5,000 baht per rai. Tempted by soaring land prices following the announcement of the bridge project by the Chatichai regime, most of the Don Mahawan and Pak Ing Nua residents then sold off their land to outsiders and turned themselves into tenants on the same plots. "I sold my land five years ago at 40,000 baht per rai," said 66-year-old Sa-nguan Khamtan. After selling his six-rai plot, he bought a car and gave the rest of the money to his children. Like his neighbours, he now lives on the six-rai plot he rents from the same person he sold the land to.
Panya Taengmo, another Don Mahawan resident, said whenever there is news that the government will soon build the bridge, land prices in his community shoot up again and then drop a bit after there is no sign of actual construction. Khamphan Thammawong, who runs a large business selling decorative stones in the neighbourhood, said his family members are snapping up more land after hearing the latest construction plan. Right now he owns more than three rai of land next to the river bank himself. Mr Khamphan believes the construction plan is for real this time as the Lao government has already expropriated land around the bridge site on the Lao side.
According to the tour operator, most owners of land around the bridge site are local and national politicians. However, some have purchased large land plots on behalf of Chinese business operators keen to build warehouses near the bridge. Prayuth Phothi, the Don Mahawan village headman, said 70% of the residents in his community have already sold their land. The locals make a living by collecting stones from the Mekong River and selling them as decorative stones for landscaping.
Mr Prayuth said there is also a plan to build an industrial estate on a 16,000-rai plot in Tambon Sri Donmool, which would help to create more jobs. Since the collecting of stones from the river for sale is illegal, the bridge would make it easier for law enforcement authorities to see residents that are collecting stones from the river, said Mr Prayuth.
Mekong Region: China-Thailand Road Due in 2011
MANILA - Senior officials of several Mekong countries agreed today to build a bridge across the Mekong River that will connect the south-western Yunnnan province of China directly to Bangkok, Thailand by road.
The bridge, which will be financed by the governments of China and Thailand, is scheduled for completion in 2011 and will cross the Mekong River at Chiang Khong, in northern Thailand, and
Houayxay, in Lao PDR.
It is the final link in a north-south road system through the Mekong region under development plans by nations in the area and the Asian Development Bank (AsD
"When this vital bridge is completed, it will be possible for the first time to travel by land directly from Yunnan, People's Republic of China, through Lao PDR to Thailand, opening up tremendous potential for increased trade, tourism, and further integration of the Mekong region," said ADB Vice President C Lawrence Greenwood Jr.
The signing of the agreement by Greater Mekong Subregion ministers from China, Laos and Thailand to build the bridge came at the end of the 14th Greater Mekong Subregion Ministerial Conference here at the AsDB headquarters from Jun. 19 to 21.
The AsDB has been the lead supporter of the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Programme since it began in 1992. Since then, the Bank says, the area has grown into one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, with average Gross Domestic Product growth of about 6 percent in recent years.
"Fifteen years of fruitful partnerships and solid achievements are something to be proud of," said Greenwood. "The Greater Mekong Subregion Programme sends a very powerful message: that cooperation and joint action among neighbours works."
In December 2006, the Japan-funded Second Mekong International Bridge opened at the Mukdahan-Savannakhet border between Thailand and Laos. It completes the East-West Economic Corridor - a 1,500 kilometre stretch of upgraded roads that cuts across four of the six Mekong countries.
Other projects are the start of work on two Bank-assisted major railway links in Cambodia and Vietnam, and the finalisation and signing of agreements on the cross-border transport of goods and people.
In addition, the Bank said the region will soon see the completion of Phase 1 of the Information Superhighway Network consisting of optical fiber backbone connections.
Exports of the Mekong countries quadrupled from 37 billion U.S. dollars in 1992 to 182 billion dollars in 2006. Annual tourist arrivals more than doubled from 10 million in 1995 to over 22 million in 2006. Foreign direct investment into the Mekong region increased from about 3 billion dollars in 1992 to about 7 billion dollars in 2005.
The June conference also considered the results of a midterm review of the Bank's Greater Mekong Subregion programme's 10-year strategy from 2002 to 2012. (Source: Asian Development Bank, Jun. 21, 2007)
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New private port for Golden Triangle
Traders call for trade zone in Chiang Rai
THEERAWAT KHAMTHITA
Lan Chang commercial port is built on 83 rai of land owned by MP World Trading, run by veteran politician Vatana Asavahame. The site is the former location of Ha Chiang Plaza shopping mall run by the same company.
The consortium has taken out a three-year lease and plans to buy the land in that period.
It made an initial investment of about 30 million baht for the first three years and after that the investment money in the next phases of development is expected to rise by as much as 600 million baht.
The consortium consists of Siam South China Logistics Co, which holds a 55% stake in the port, Kamol Insurance Co with a holding of 15%, Global Port Management Co with 15% and Suwannachinda Partnership Ltd with 15%.
The port project is in response to China's move to launch the Kunming and Jinghong industrial estates in southern China.
In addition, China also plans to build an agro-industrial estate on the Lao side of the Mekong river opposite Chiang Saen district.
The 10-billion-baht agri-industrial estate is a joint venture between Chinese investors and the Lao government.
It will cover about 20,000 rai with a five-star hotel, a casino, a hospital and a goods distribution centre planned. The estate is expected to open for business by next year.
Prathan Inseeyong, managing director of the Lan Chang port, said the port can serve six vessels of less than 500 tonnes gross.
A large crane for lifting goods of 150 tonnes has now been installed, while construction of a warehouse and parking areas for trucks is now underway.
The old Ha Chiang shopping mall will be refurbished and turned into an office building and an exhibition hall for Otop products.
Mr Prathan called on the government to develop and promote a special border economic zone in Chiang Rai to ensure continued economic growth in the province. He said many Chiang Rai governors were officials close to retirement. They would be in office for too short a time to maintain economic development in the province.
He was confident that China would choose to transport agricultural goods via Chiang Saen district.
Taking agricultural products by ship was more cost-effective than by road, given rising fuel costs, Mr Prathan said.
One ship can carry enough cargo to fill 10 trucks.
In addition, Thailand needs to prepare for the expansion of trade in the region when the free trade agreement between Thailand, China and Asean is concluded by 2010.
Pattana Sitthisombat, chairman of the Chiang Rai chamber of commerce, welcomed the first private-run commercial port in Chiang Saen.
Now there are only 12 warehouses permitted on a temporary basis on the banks of the Mekong river.
He urged Thai entrepreneurs to do more to explore investment possibilities under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) cooperation deal.
Trade in Chiang Saen is worth about eight billion baht a year, while annual trade in Mae Sai and Chiang Khong districts is put at three billion baht each, he said.
Kesuda Sangkhakorn, who runs a major import-export company in Chiang Saen, said the new port will be an alternative to Chiang Saen port, making it easier to move shipments in the dry season when the Mekong is shallow.
Cargo vessels are often stranded on sand bars near the Golden Triangle before they manage to reach the port at Chiang Saen.
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02 December 2007
Chinese open B1bn hotel in Chiang Rai near Laos border
Posted by admin ( )
Published on December 2nd, 2007 @ 03:08:10 pm
Categories: Announcements
A group of Chinese investors has launched a hotel project worth around one billion baht in the northern province of Chiang Rai.
Chie Chou International, a Yunnan-based company registered in Thailand in June this year, plans to construct a 300-room hotel and other facilities on a 60-rai plot on the bank of the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district, according to project manager Nivat Teeprueksa.
The development aims to tap the anticipated economic boom along the North South Economic Corridor where a third Thailand-Laos bridge worth 180 million baht would be built to link Chiang Khong with Huay Sai subdistrict in Laos.
Bridge construction costs will be split equally by China and Thailand.
The road, known as 3R, is almost completed and is open for trial service. ‘’It takes only three hours for people who want to travel from Huay Sai to China’s border by car,'’ Mr Nivat said.
The Chie Chou site, located three kilometres from the third bridge, is expected to be completed in two years. It comprises the eight-storey hotel, a mini golf course, resort and helicopter landing pad.
He said the company also planned to begin work on a major logistics centre after it finishes building the hotel. Located just south of the bridge, the centre will also be a joint venture between Chinese and Thai investors.
D.V. Fong, president of Chie Chou International, said he was happy to help with Thailand’s economic development.
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...can't see how it will be a three hour trip on the 3R road - perhaps if they manage to build one up the river but even that will be 3 - 400km.
Still, you get the point, it will be doable in a day and without 4WD.
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A sleeping giant wakes up
Investors in Economic Quadrangle have waited 10 years for a return
Story by NAOWARAT SUKSAMRAN
With development at long last gaining momentum in the far North's Economic Quadrangle, early investors who rushed to put their money into the region more than 10 years ago are finally hoping to get a return.
The Economic Quadrangle covers the northernmost provinces of Thailand and adjacent areas in China, Laos and Burma. Its development was initiated in the early 1990s during the Chatichai Choonhavan administration with a policy to "turn the battlefields into marketplaces".
Soon after the policy was launched early birds rushed into the region, including politicians.
They poured in money, purchased land at cheap prices from local owners and started up businesses to meet the expected rising demand.
The eager investors included Vatana Asavahame, a veteran politician from Samut Prakan.
Mr Vatana said he borrowed five billion baht from a commercial bank for investment in the Economic Quadrangle, mainly in Chiang Saen and Mae Sai districts of Chiang Rai.
His interests included the construction of a port, shophouses, a retail complex called Five Chiangs (Chiang Rai, Chiang Saen, Chiang Tung, Chiang Rung and Chiang Thong) and fuel storage tanks.
He also bought several thousand rai of land, where he planned to build a hotel, and started a cruise tour service on the Mekong.
"I was at least 10 years too early," he said.
Despite his strong connections with Chinese businessmen in Yunnan province in China, his cruise tour business was eventually closed down, and other businesses have not been profitable.
Since then, he has mortgaged his properties in Chiang Rai to leading business tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC group.
A source close to Mr Vatana said it was unlikely he would try to revive the businesses. Instead, he wanted to sell the properties for a lump sum price, about 1.4 billion baht.
Now that infrastructure development has begun taking shape in the Economic Quadrangle, early birds like Mr Vatana and other politicians may yet reap a nice profit from speculation on the land.
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MEKONG RIVER
Minister to push for new Chiang Saen port
THEERAWAT KHAMTHITA & AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
CHIANG RAI : A project to build a second port in Chiang Saen to serve booming trade in the Greater Sub-Mekong Region (GSM) will get a new push, says Deputy Transport Minister Anurak Jureemart.
He would press for cabinet approval of the second port, which will be bigger than the present one.
Mr Anurak was speaking after a meeting to discuss ways to develop the port. The meeting was attended by staff from agencies under the Transport Ministry, local authorities and Chamber of Commerce members in the North.
The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) said the existing port at Ban Pa Sak Hang Wiang in tambon Wiang in Chiang Saen district cannot handle the heavy shipping on the Mekong river.
The port, which opened in October 2003, has limited space for storing freight.
Under the plan, a second port will be built at Ban Sob Kok village in tambon Ban Saew, six kilometres to the south, for 1.54 billion baht.
The second port would be built on 402.3 rai of land on a delta at the confluence of the Kok river and the Mekong.
An environmental impact study by the Fine Arts Department confirmed that historic sites nearby will not be affected by construction, according to PAT.
If the project is endorsed by cabinet, tenders will be called by October and construction could be finished in 2011.
The Department of Rural Roads plans to build a road linking highways 1129 and 1098 in Chiang Saen district at a cost of 575 million baht.
The four-lane road will be 14.5km long, running from Ban San Sai Kong Ngam in tambon Ban Saew, near the planned second port, over the Kok river until it reaches Highway 1098 at Wat Tha Kao Pluek in Mae Chan district and connects with Muang district.
Prathan Inseeyong, managing director of Lan Chang commercial port, said construction of the second port would involve digging waterways five to 10 metres deep in the Mekong river to make sure Chinese cargo vessels do not get stranded on sandbars near the Golden Triangle where the Mekong becomes shallow during the dry season.
Pattana Sitthisombat, president of the Chiang Rai chamber of commerce, said the second port would handle the growing amount of commercial shipping at Chiang Saen, which is worth eight billion baht a year.
Mr Anurak said he will propose to cabinet that PAT be appointed to run the second port as it has experience in international shipping, and developing waterways.
Trade at Chiang Saen port is growing 12-15% a year.
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Mekong navigation and the great garlic puzzle
A chinese boat unloading apples in Chiang Saen in 1994
Timothy Hamlin of the Stimson Center has written this update on commercial navigation on the upper-Mekong. It seems that the environmentally dubious project of blasting the Mekong rapids between southern China and northern Thailand is now all but complete, making the way for a greater influx of Chinese boats into the northern Thai Mekong port of Chiang Saen.
If any New Mandala readers have had a chance to observe these developments first hand, we would be very happy to post a report!
The topic of Mekong navigation brings me back to one of my favourite topics - not sufficiency economy or coyote dancing, I’m afraid, but garlic. Timothy Hamlin’s report repeats the common claim about the impact of the import of Chinese garlic on Thai producers:
Thai farmers have already felt the impact of cheap garlic arriving from Yunnan, and they will continue to feel pressure until the markets equalize.
In previous posts (here and here) I expressed some scepticism about the view that imports from China are the sole, or even primary, driver of garlic prices in Thailand. The garlic price in Thailand certainly did drop in 2004 (the first full year of the agricultural trade agreement with China) but it recovered after that, to reach record levels in 2007. This year it has fallen again, for reasons that are not clear.
While researching this issue I came across this news clipping in my data-base.
Garlic growers yesterday laid siege to Chiang Mai city hall and set up a road block in Mae Hong Son to demand government action over the low price of their produce. They want the government to guarantee them a price of 17-20 baht per kilogramme of garlic - the current market price is five or six baht a kilo. In Chiang Mai, more than 1,500 growers, who began their rally yesterday, laid siege to the city hall while negotiations between their representatives and Deputy Commerce Minister Chalermphol Sanitwongchai took place. Mr Chalermphol flew to Chiang Mai yesterday to meet the protesters. Those attending the meeting included Chiang Mai MP Kingkarn na Chiang Mai and protester representatives led by Theera Jiaboonyok. Demonstrators burned effigies of Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Agriculture Minister Chucheep Harnsawat and Commerce Minister Narongchai Akrasanee yesterday afternoon. They also threatened to set fire to the city hall if their demands were not met. Officials were prevented from entering city hall to work. Protesters had come from Mae Taeng, Fang and Chiang Dao districts of Chiang Mai, as well as from Lamphun and Mae Hong Son provinces. They blame the low price of garlic on illegally imported garlic from neighbouring countries, especially Burma. In Bangkok, Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong vowed to take tough action against the protesters if they damaged government property. He said the government reached an agreement with garlic growers on Tuesday which would see the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives paying 14 baht per kilogramme for 80 percent of their garlic produce. In Mae Hong Son, around 1,500 garlic growers in Pai district blocked Highway 1095 between Pai and Chiang Mai. The want the government to guarantee a garlic price of 20 baht per kilo. About 30 police officers were at the scene.
As readers will have noticed, this is not a recent report. It is from the Bangkok Post on 24 April 1997, well before the trade agreement with China.
The more things change …
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