Thai Environmentalist Warns Burma about Massive Industrial Estate Saturday, 01 October 2011 12:08 Nay Thwin

This white sand blue water beach is called moon-light beach and was once a popular tourist spot.

But now most of the hotels facing the beach are empty. Only two are still open.

No one wants to holiday here after the massive industrial estate was built behind the beach.

No more tourists, but there are still some Thai fishermen.

―Now we have to go further from the shore to catch fish because the fish don‘t come to this area anymore. Now we have to use motor boats rather than the small traditional boats, we have to spend money of fuel. It‘s more dangerous because we are far from the beach and can‘t return quickly if there is a natural disaster. Even if we go far away there are many days where we come with empty boats. Some fishermen have move away after selling their houses and abandoning their fishing boats.‖

Behind him are the gleaming pipes, steel towers and massive storage tanks of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate.

It‘s one of the biggest petro-chemical hubs in the world.

Driving around it...it‘s the size of a small town with more than 100 factories...coal power plants, oil refineries and chemical fertilizer factories.

Thousands of people working here but the local fishermen say most of them are not from here.

―The children of fishermen families who graduate from universities try to get a job in the factories, but most of them were rejected.‖

Instead, local people say they are dealing with the estates mess.

It is raining when we arrive at the house of 71 year old Noi Sodmanee near the estate.

He says they cannot use the rain water for drink or even washing. He rushes out to give me an umbrella saying the rain will make your skin itchy.

In the courtyard of his house he holds framed photographs of his mother and son-in-law. Both died from cancer.

His eyes fill with tears.

‗They were both healthy before the estate was build and then suddenly they got sick.‘

His son worked as a security guard at the estate.

Dr Dechrat of Bangkok‘s Agriculture University says the cancer rate in this area is seven times higher than the rest of country.

He has been researching the links between the industrial estate and the communities‘ health for years.

―In fact it is not only cancer but other kinds of disease and disorder also damage to the nervous system is also link to the chemical pollution: that is also high. Another important issue is abnormal births. Babies are born without all their vital organs That is also one of the highest in this area compared to other areas. Overall it is very clear that it‘s a risky area to live.‖

Near the estate is an empty government school. It‘s a ghost town.

In 1997 hundreds of students and teachers from here were rushed to hospital with breathing problems.

In 2009 a coalition of environmental groups took the industrial estate to court.

The judge ruled that more than 70 projects should be suspended.

But late last year the court ruled decided that 68 should be allowed to resume.

Back on the beach in front of the estate, the fisherman is disappointed.

―The government should listen to the people who are in trouble. So far the government has not shown as willingness to deal with the problems we are facing here. We feel very discouraged about this. The government should listen to the poor people, not just to the rich who have exploited the poor.‖

Thai environmentalist Khun Suthi has a warning for the Burmese people.

―Now the people of Burma could face the same problems as we are facing here in Thailand...they could have many many problems.‖

But Premchai Karnasuta, the President of Italian-Thai, the company behind the estate, says the Burmese should not worry.

―Because we have learnt from Map Ta Phut, we'll not gonna have Map Ta Phut here (in Burma) again. In Map Ta Phut, that was twenty years ago. But today we have new technology to control environment.‖

But many shadows hang over the Burma industrial estate.

Karen ethnic rebels that control that area have no agreed to estate and are in negotiations with the company.

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