Curbs likely on residential development near airport
The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) plans to push for city-planning controls in areas surrounding Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is causing unbearable noise pollution for people already living there.
A source yesterday said the ONEP was going to ask the National Environment Board to consider deploying measures that would control the use of land around the Suvarnabhumi Airport or else the number of people affected would increase. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the airport, which included a noise-exposure forecast, suggested that 71 households should be relocated and awarded compensation. But it became clear that more people were being affected when the airport started full commercial operations in late September. The source said the ONEP believed residential development was spilling into the airport's vicinity, which would pose a problem once the number of flights increased. "The ONEP is going raise the idea at the National Environment Board meeting next Thursday," the source said. In a related development, Pollution Control Department deputy director-general Dr Supat Wangwongwattana said Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) would compensate the 71 households listed in the EIA. "We will also consider how we can assist other affected households. We are going to hold a meeting next week," he said. The Nation
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