Forget blocked canals - City Hall is the culprit in annual flooding

Wednesday’s front-page report failed to identify the real culprit for Bangkok’s annual flood situation.

The main reason for the flooding and traffic problems it causes is that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is grossly negligent and inefficient in its drainage management and civic planning. 

The issue of drainage management has been a problem for decades, yet Messrs Sukhumbhand and Co have done nothing, or very little, at most, to replace outmoded drains or put in place regular drain-cleaning programmes. Plus, there does not appear to be one iota of city planning in regard to construction of new high-rise buildings.

If proper planning principles were in place, it would be very evident that a new multi-storey building, either office or residential, would draw hundreds or possibly thousands of extra people to the location. It doesn’t take rocket science to see that the road-drainage system in that location would be at best strained and at worst overloaded. In my own area of Onnuj, a hotel of 150 rooms and an apartment of 200 rooms have just been built, and another hotel and condo are currently going up on a small soi. Road and drains remain as they were.

It’s time for Prime Minister Prayut to have the BMA thoroughly investigated for incompetent management and negligence. 

The resulting remedial plan must ensure the organisation is revised from the top down to provide the services and administration required for a 21st-century city. 

Ray Gregory