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To date, it's still not clear when the company can announce a construction plan. Managing director Paul Kanjanapas expressed his worries when meeting reporters at a press conference yesterday.

According to Paul, a major problem concerns the National Environment Board and its environmental impact assessment approval.

As Thailand is upgrading itself in terms of global warming prevention, the board is becoming stricter in expanding the green areas of new construction projects. In the case of Impact, the board demands that the developer plant 6,000 trees six metres high on the 4-rai plot prepared for the hotel development.

"If all trees are planted on the land, we'd have no space left for the hotel building," Paul told reporters.

Impact has negotiated with the board to grow some trees between floors, probably by the pool or in a rooftop garden. But the board has not relaxed its stance: all trees must be planted on the ground.

Paul is scratching his head. The hotel development plan has been delayed for months, and obviously he has no idea when construction work can start.

Certainly, green lovers would applaud the National Environment Board for its lofty principles. The more trees we have in the city, the greener the environment and the fresher the air quality.

But there is yet another irony in Thai society. While the board is promoting a green environment, the government, as part of six economic stimulus measures, approved yesterday a sharp cut on excise taxes on gasohol and diesel.

Starting from July 25, gasohol users will enjoy a deeper price differential from premium petrol, at about Bt8 per litre. From that day, gasohol will be Bt3.30 per litre cheaper than now. For hard-pressed motorists who typically rush to fill up tanks ahead of a increase of just 50 or 80 satang per litre, this would be a huge  psychological boost.

Diesel users will also enjoy a price cut of more than Bt2 per litre. This will naturally encourage people to consume fuel at the current rate for at least the next six months.

Worse, Thailand is going to import high-sulphur diesel from Russia. This will actually raise the harmful level of carbon dioxide in the air.

It seems the National Environment Board will have to work harder to handle that, at the expense of developers. Sorry, Paul!