Energy experts, state officials and entrepreneurs in southern Thailand have called on the Thai authorities to scrap a plan to build a coal-fired power plant in the region, saying that the lucrative tourism industry could suffer in the long run.

Transborder News reported that on Monday, 29 June 2015, many energy experts, environmental activists, state officials, and business owners in the southern province of Krabi participated in ‘Andaman Talk: 300 Billion Baht Disaster for Tourism Industry from Coal’, a discussion on the possible impacts of the proposed coal-fired power plant in the province.

Since early 2014, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has proposed to build a controversial 60 billion baht (about USD 1.8 billion) coal-fired power plant with 870 megawatts (MW) capacity and a coal seaport adjacent to it in Nuea Khlong District of Krabi Province.     

The plan is viewed favourably by the junta. However, it is much criticised by many environmental groups and local residents who fear future environmental impacts from the plant. According to Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, the power plant will guarantee Thailand’s energy security.

On 28 May 2015, he complained “in the future if there is no electricity then don’t complain. Don’t complain if the electricity bill goes up. I would like to make it clear now that if you do nothing then just don’t complain”.   

At the discussion on Monday, Amarit Siripornjudagun, President of the Tourism Industry Council of Krabi Province, said that the tourism sector in Thailand should galvanise efforts to oppose the construction of the proposed power plant because it might have serious impacts on the province’s pristine coastal areas, which draws in billions of baht of revenue from tourists annually.   

He mentioned that unlike neighbouring Malaysia, which has made environmental conservation a priority in order to draw in more tourists, Thailand is losing its competitiveness in the region’s tourism industry because of weak environment protection frameworks.

Wattana Thanasakcharoen, President of the Southern Thailand Chamber of Commerce, pointed out at the seminar that the trade-off in energy security and the possible impacts that it might has on the environment is not worthwhile.

Wattana added that Krabi’s revenue accounts for about 10.7 per cent of national GDP, most of which comes from the lucrative tourism industry of the province. Therefore, the government’s claim that the coal-fired power plant would be a good investment for the development of regional industries is a lie.

At the end of the discussion, 13 organisations, including the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) and the provincial chambers of commerce of Krabi, Phuket, and Phang Ng, read a joint campaign statement calling on the government to choose the regional tourism industry over the coal-fired power plant.

“The government must choose between the preservation of the beautiful Andaman Coast, of which the world is jealous, to keep 300 billion baht worth of revenue from the tourism industry and a coal-fired power plant, a type which the rest of the world is now closing,” said the group’s statement.