PHUKET: Vice Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, has warned people illegally occupying areas in the Bang Khanun Forest near Phuket International Airport that their buildings will be demolished, as the Novy proceeds with its plan to build several facilities in the protected area.
He has also dismissed rumours that a golf course or a hospice villa development will be built in the forest.
V/Adm Arpakorn, accompanied by Navy security personnel, inspected the forest last Thursday (June 15).
Joining him for the inspection tour was Move Forward Phuket MP-elect Chalermpong Saengdee, the forestry chiefs responsible for the protected forest area, the local village chief (Phu Yai Baan) and representatives from the Monsoon Garbage Thailand environmental group.
The purpose of the inspection was to see firsthand areas legally occupied by local people, mainly for growing rubber trees or fruit farming of durian and mangosteen, and to identify areas not to be affected by the Navy’s plan to build in the forest.
The Navy has been granted use of 3,763 rai in the forest to create a new home for the 22nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the Anti-Aircraft Command Unit, an Air Defense and Coastal Defense Center and the 4th Naval Police Battalion of the Naval Police Department.
The plan has come under fire from local residents. At a meeting in April Sakhu Deputy Mayor Surin Yotharak explained that local families objected to the Navy being granted use of the land as more than 100 families have built houses and grow crops in the area, and had lived and farmed in the park for a generation.
During the inspection last Thursday one illegal occupier was found with a building on site that clearly contravened any legal use of land within the forest. The occupier was given 15 days to remove the structure, or the Navy would do it for them. The move was praised with much support online.
V/Adm Arpakorn explained that people permitted to grow crops within the park will be allowed to continue to do so for the immediate future. However, sooner or later, they will have to vacate the area, he said.
The Navy aims “to know the facts and to understand and find solutions to problems, as well as jointly organise forest conservation activities with local communities in the future”, V/Adm Arpakorn said.
“People in the area come to make a living in the forest. We can confirm that no villagers have been pushed out of the area. You can still cut the rubber. But when those rubber trees expire, it must be stopped. Do not plant new trees,” he said.
V/Adm Arpkorn recognised that 265 “cases” had been approved use of areas within the forest, which has been officially classified as “degraded forest”.
However, there are many others with no such legal right to occupy areas in the forest. Such people will be forced to vacate the area, he said.
“After clearing the forest and planting rubber plantations in this area, we have to cooperate with local conservation groups on how to help the forest recover,” he said.
Among other concerns raised during the inspection was the use of pesticides by farmers growing crops in the forest. The pesticides were being washed downhill during heavy rains and making their way into local waterways and watershed areas, V/Adm Arpakorn said.
“As we can see, this causes quite a lot of problems,” he said.
