Amendments could unblock Map Ta Phut projects

       The government plans to amend the National Environment Act as a shortterm measure to enable some investment projects suspended by a court injunction to move ahead.
       Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government could amend Article 46 (2) of the National Environment Act to allow industrial projects that pose no threat to the environment and do not breach any laws to move forward in the short term.
       The existing act requires industrial projects to run only environmentalimpact assessments (EIA).
       But the proposed amendments would add a requirement for health-impact assessments (HIA) and public participation, before the creation of organic laws to set up an independent body under Section 67 of the 2007 Constitution,said Mr Abhisit.
       The organic law process to set up the new body under Section 67 would take time, with the completion likely early next year.
       Section 67 requires public hearings for projects seen as harmful to the environment and people's health. It requires the government to set up an independent agency to advise on such projects.
       The Council of State ruled earlier that authorities could process applications in the absence of the organic law to set up the body.
       Amendments to the environment act would take about three weeks before being submitted to the national environment committee for approval.
       The premier yesterday met with civil servants and industrialists to discuss the Administrative Court's injunction that has suspended the operating permits of 76 industrial projects - including many at Rayong's Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate - and to attempt to resolve the issue.
       Mr Abhisit quoted Kiat Sittheeamorn,head of the Thailand Trade Representative office, as reporting that foreign investors had started complaining and seeking clarification from the government over the injunction.
       The prolonged conflict over invest-ment in Map Ta Phut could slow the country's economic growth in the last quarter and next year, according to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).
       Thailand's growth is expected to slip 0.5 percentage points in the last quarter to between 1.5% and 2.5% from an earlier forecast of between 2% and 3%, due to the disappearance of industrial investment worth 10-20 billion baht.
       This would also affect employment and the construction sector, the UTCC said.