View Full Version : Bridge to nowhere
Well, technically speaking it is an elevated highway rather than a bridge; but it looks like it involved fairly similar construction techniques to the recently-doubled Tinsulanonda Bridges across the shallow Thale Sap Songkhla lagoon further south.
I have just come back from visiting what is probably Thailand's newest & remotest stretch of elevated highway. Indeed, it still carries the royal flags that were put up when HRH the Crown Prince opened it less than a month ago. The project involved approx 19 Kms of road across the wetland between Thale Noi lagoon Wildfowl Reserve and the Thale Luang lagoon between Thale Noi (Khuan Khanun District) in Phattalung Province and Hua Pa (Ranote District) in Songkhla Province. It's a wide two-lane highway, with an approx. 6 km continuous stretch of elevated road in the middle. The elevated stretch looks to be about 6 m above the lake's highest level, with two higher stretches (approx 15 m) over the main connecting khlongs between the two lagoons. There are also several other bridges built over khlongs on the approach roads.
Both ends of the elevated stretch are guarded by water-buffalo fences with road crossing gaps. The purpose of these fences seems to be to concentrate the points at which the water buffalos can cross (or be driven across) the elevated road approaches; rather than just let them ramble randomly across. There are several laybys built on the elevated stretch, big enough for coach and car passengers to get out and admire the views: Big skies, loads of wildfowl & other avian life, vast stretches of water-buffalo dotted wetlands, distant mountains and intermittant limestone karst outcrops. The road connects a low-lying farming and fishing community island in the middle. Stalls line the approach roads, selling local fish and handicrafts.
I have marked the 'Start' and 'Finish' of the wetland road with red map pins. The 6 km elevated strech runs between Tambon Phanang Tung and the Songkhla Provincial border marked on the map. (Click the magnifier cursor to view the best map image):
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This has always been a controversial project. (I may eventually be able to dig up some reports on the project from the early 2000s.) Indeed, it was so controversial that I firmly believed the project had been abandoned. (Ironically, I only heard that the project had been finished a few days ago, while I was admiring the view from an elevated autostrada across a wetland South of Pisa in Italy.)
The elevated stretch was designed to stop any hindrance to the flow of water between the two lagoons. Many signs on the bridge warn people not to throw rubbish off the bridge, at peril of incurring a 2,000 baht fine. Each layby has been provided with a litter bin. (I noticed some litter, but some of it may also have been left behind by the bridge building crews.) The bridge is already a minor tourist attraction, although truck drivers are already using it as a short cut. The map also shows are fairly wide secondary road connections on both sides of the wetland road. At the Thale Noi end, it looks like the authorities are already preparing a more direct connection to Highway 4048.
Some locals call it Hua Pa Bridge.
Litter warning and water-buffalo fences at the Ban Hua Pa (Songkhla Province) end:
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Ban Hua Pa End:
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Views of distant karst scenery in Phattalung Province:
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Fishing Community in the middle of the elevated stetch. Small dots in middle distance indicate a large herd of wading water-buffalos:
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Water buffalos grazing on recently submerged grassland. Some rain recently! I also noticed herdsmen wading out to supervise their stock or to move them into slightly-elevated roofed corrals:
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Daytrippers on the lagoon at Thale Noi Wildfowl Reserve. A trip to the bridge is now a part of the long-tailed boat trips:
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Major irrigation pumping station near Hua Pa end of the road:
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This describes the wildfowl reserve at the Phattalung end of the new highway:
Thale Noi Waterfowl Reserve
is the largest waterfowl reserve in Thailand. It can be reached via Highway No. 4048 from Amphoe Muang to Amphoe Khuan Khanun and to Thale Noi, for a total distance of 32 kilometers. The road is paved asphalt all the way. The reserve is the responsibility of the Royal Forestry Department and covers 450 square kilometers, divided into 422 square kilometers of land (94%) and 28 square kilometers of water (6%), or Thale Noi.
http://south.sawadee.com/phattalung/images/khuan.jpg
The sea is 5 kilometers wide and 6 kilometers long with an average depth of 1.2 meters. The sea is covered with assorted flora such as lotus, bulrush, reed, and grass used for thatching. More than 187 species of waterfowls, migratory and indigenous birds make their home at Thale Noi. Some live here throughout the year and some migrate only in winter from October to March when the population density is at its highest.
The low season is June-September which is the nesting period. Species that are prevalent here are those of the heron and stork family such as yellow bittern, great egret, painted stork, red stork; ducks such as lesser whistling duck, cotton pygmy goose, and garganey; grebe; rails such as white-browed crake, white-breasted waterhen, watercock, common moorhen, and Eurasian coot; jacanas such as pheasant-tailed jacana and bronze-winged jacana; cormorants such as great cormorant and little cormorant; black-winged stilt; Brahminy kite; red-wattled lapwing; whiskered tern; common kingfisher; and barn swallow. The best time to study flora and fauna is during October-March when there is an abundance of birds and pink lotus in full bloom cover the reserve. Moreover, tourists can visit villages and see cottage industries like reed mat making. Thale Noi has been named the first world wetland site in Thailand. This aims to preserve the sustainable ecology of the area, one that is being developed into one of the country's most important nature study centers. As such, there is careful control of eco-tourism in Thale Noi in order to minimize impact on the environment. Tourists can take boats from Thale Noi pier and go on two routes; the first one for tourists with services by the Thale Noi community and the second for academics and nature study by requesting permission and guide from a reserve official. The reserve has comfortable accommodation. For more information, please contact the Royal Forestry Department in Bangkok, tel. 5797223, 5795734, and Thale Noi Non-hunting Area, Tel. (074) 615722. Travel to Thale Noi is easy by boat and car. Access can be made from seaside districts like Ranot, Sathing Phra and Muang of Songkhla, and Pak Phayun, Khuan Khanun and Muang of Phatthalung. Visitors by train can alight at Pak Khlong station and continue by car to Thale Noi for 8 kilometers.
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http://south.sawadee.com/phattalung/attractions.htm
http://www.2bangkok.com Master Plan News 2003:
Songkhla Lake restoration--Elevated road to be first project - Bangkok Post, October 3, 2003
700-million-baht elevated road bypassing Thale Noi in Khuan Khanun district will be the first project under the four-year Songkhla Lake restoration plan.
"The 17.5km road would ease transportation between Songkhla's Ranot district and Phatthalung's Khuan Khanun district,'' Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said during a trip to the area yesterday...
The new route, to be known as Pracha Dhamma road, will shorten the journey from 90km to 30km.
http://2bangkok.com/2bangkok/MassTransit/mmnews04.shtml
Highlights some of the environmental concerns over this project and also suggests that the project was part of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra's strategies to usurp the power of the Democrat Party in the south:
03 October 2003
SONGKHLA LAKE RESTORATION
Elevated road to be first project
Locals happy their ideas were adopted
Kultida Samabuddhi
A 700-million-baht elevated road bypassing Thale Noi in Khuan Khanun district will be the first project under the four-year Songkhla Lake restoration plan.
The 17.5km road would ease transportation between Songkhla's Ranot district and Phatthalung's Khuan Khanun district,'' Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said during a trip to the area yesterday.
This is one of the most expensive roads because the government wants to mitigate the adverse environmental impact.''
The new route, to be known as Pracha Dhamma road, will shorten the journey from 90km to 30km.
The prime minister visited Songkhla and Phatthalung provinces yesterday to inspect progress of the Songkhla Lake restoration project, scheduled for completion in 2007.
Thale Noi residents earlier opposed the road's construction, saying it would damage the fragile ecosystem of Thale Noi, the upper part of Songkhla great lake, which is one of the nation's most fertile wetlands.
The villagers said the road would block the waterway, leading to water pollution and extinction of aquatic and bird species.
They agreed to the road's construction after the Songkhla Lake Restoration and Development Committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yong-chaiyudh, accepted their proposals and agreed 5km of the road crossing Thale Noi would be elevated to avoid environmental damage.
The committee was set up last December to implement the plan. The cabinet recently approved a budget of 4.2 billion baht for the restoration work, most of which will be handled by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.
Mr Thaksin said a similar approach would be taken toward other important wetlands, including Kwan Phayao in Phayao, Nong Han in Sakon Nakhon, and Beung Boraphet in Nakhon Sawan.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Praphat Panyachatrak said cabinet had already allocated 380 million baht for pilot projects including mangrove reforestation, wastewater treatment and removal of illegal fishing gear.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, the ministry's permanent secretary, said that after the elevated road was built in Phattalung, the committee would go ahead with removal of destructive fishing equipment from the lake.
Owners of the fishing gear, including Phong Phang and Sai Nang people, would not receive compensation because using the equipment was illegal.
From now on, state agencies will not be allowed to implement projects related to Songkhla lake without permission from the committee,'' Mr Plodprasop said.
Chin Buaban, a villager from Khuan Khanun district, said the restoration scheme would benefit the local people because the committee had listened to their opinions.
Ten village representatives and local academics from three provinces were selected as committee members.
"I realise that the scheme might be politically motivated because Songkhla Lake covers areas of three provinces - Phattalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla, and more than 1.2 million people depend on the lake,'' Mr Chin said. "If Mr Thaksin is successful in restoring the lake, he will gain a lot of support from local people.''
Mr Thaksin was also accompanied by Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha and Agriculture Minister Sora-at Klinprathum.
http://ecologyasia.com/news-archives/2003/oct-03/bangkokpost_031003_1.htm
It appears that 'Phong Phang' and 'Sai Nang' people refers to fishermen who usually resort to the use of certain kinds of fishing equipment:
Owners of the fishing gear, including Phong Phang and Sai Nang people, would not receive compensation because using the equipment was illegal.
http://ecologyasia.com/news-archives/2003/oct-03/bangkokpost_031003_1.htm
From a Saturday, March 24 article in the Bangkok Post on Irrawaddy Dolphins:
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Surveys by the centre in 2004 found a variety of dolphins - the Irrawaddy, humpbacked (Sousa chinensis, or loma lang nok), bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus, or loma pak khuat) - and finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides, or loma hua bart lang riab) as well as Brydes whales (Balaenoptera edeni, or warn klaeb) and pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata, or warn phetchakart khrae) in the inner Gulf of Thailand. Last year's survey by the Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the Lower Gulf of Thailand found 30 Irrawaddy dolphins in Songkhla Lake.
The bad news is that these dolphins are under threat from fisheries, getting tangled in fishing nets, pollution, food shortages, overfishing, soil erosion and a general degradation of the marine environment, according to WWF Thailand.
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In Songkhla Lake, the major cause of death of Irrawaddy dolphins is entanglement in gill nets, said Santi Nilwat of the Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the Lower Gulf of Thailand.
Dolphins are on the list of endangered species in Appendices I and II of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). Trade in animals listed in Appendix I are subject to strict regulation and is normally only permitted in exceptional circumstances, while trade in animals listed in Appendix II must be monitored through a licensing system.
In 2004, Cites member countries voted to ban commercial trade in Irrawaddy dolphins by adding them to Appendix I, where they join critically endangered species like great apes and tigers.
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Unfortunately, the dolphins on the Bang Pakong are under threat from phong phang (bag nets), used for catching small shrimp.
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The situation for some 30 Irrawaddy dolphins in Songkhla Lake is more distressing, said Santi Nilwat of the Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the Lower Gulf of Thailand. According to a study, approximately four Irrawaddy dolphins die each year in the lake. Last month the bodies of six dolphins, including two calves, were recovered from the lake. The calf mortality rate has also been rising, he noted.
Apart from entanglement in fishing gear, other causes of dolphin fatalities in the lake include starvation and environmental degradation resulting from sedimentation and nitrification (the oxidation of ammonium compounds found in organic material into nitrates and nitrites by bacteria), and pollution caused by shrimp and pig farms, rubber plantations and factories.
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The shrimp traps (sai nang) in the Songkhla Lake, meanwhile, obstruct the route of marine animals between the sea and the lake, disrupting the food chain.
They also prevent dolphins from the sea entering the lake, resulting in inbreeding in the lake's dolphin population and weak calves.
Their staple diet is the Siamese rock catfish, or pla kod hua mong. But these have become scarce due to overfishing.
A local committee comprising officials and community representatives plans to declare a dolphin conservation zone covering 100km2 of the lake. But the committee admits that this is no easy task, due to resistance from the fishing industry.
To raise public awareness of dolphin conservation matters, the Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre for the Lower Gulf of Thailand has encouraged local communities to report deaths of dolphins, and local fishermen to switch to dolphin sightseeing tours. There are two operators now.
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http://www.aseanbiodiversity.info/News/54001681.htm
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