Villagers are suspicious of the “underground water bank”, insisting it is not as advertised and against theory, finding irregularities in favor of capitalists.

“Nakhon Phanom” Villagers are concerned about the “Underground Water Bank”, urging the Provincial Administrative Organization to explain its benefits and value, revealing irregularities in special procurement and specific contractors, suspecting that it favors certain capitalists, confused by the digging pattern similar to a fish pond and installing a PVC breathing pipe in the middle of the pond, insisting that it is not as advertised on the sign and is against theory, but when the media pressed them to clarify the facts, they were denied, vowing to investigate transparency, expecting to see progress by August.

On August 19, 2024, reporters reported on the progress of the underground water bank problem in Nakhon Phanom Province. The latest update is that there has been no clarification of the facts and confirmation of the clarity of the value and details of the project for the relevant agencies, including the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization as the main host of the underground water bank project, using a budget between 2022-2024, totaling 867 projects, using a budget of 433,500,000 baht to dredge the underground water bank pond after a village leader, Mr. Wathana Traiyarat, Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization, Na Kae District, along with his team, came out to file a complaint with the Office of the Auditor General and the National Anti-Corruption Commission of Nakhon Phanom Province, including relevant agencies, to investigate the source and standards of the pond excavation for transparency and value for money spent and to benefit the people because it was found that the budget was spent the most, more than the development in many areas and beyond urgent necessity, even though there were many other projects that the villagers wanted to be developed more quickly.

In addition, villagers are still concerned and have raised questions on social media about irregularities in digging wells within the budget of approximately 490,000 baht per well, using a special procurement method, agreeing on a specific price with a contractor, without having to bid, leading to doubts about whether there was any favoritism towards certain groups of investors. In addition, it was found that the water bank wells were fish ponds, but there were breathing pipes and PVC pipes in the middle of the wells, leading to doubts about what use they could have. Furthermore, an inspection found that they did not conform to the theory of underground water banks. It was also found that there were many other projects whose project signs did not match the amount of work and did not match the actual well digging area. The media tried to contact relevant officials, including executives of the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization, to confirm and clarify the facts, but they were unreasonably rejected.

Mr. Wathana Traiyarat, as a leader of the villagers, including the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization in Na Kae District, confirmed that he will continue to collect data to investigate transparency and present it to provincial level agencies, including the Nakhon Phanom State Audit Office and the Nakhon Phanom National Anti-Corruption Commission to create more transparency and not cause doubts among the people in using the budget of over 430 million baht to make it worthwhile with the budget that comes from the people's taxes. It is expected that within this August there will be progress in the investigation from the relevant agencies.

Mr. Wattana added that from the initial study of the theory of underground water bank well digging, it was found that there are 2 types: 1. Closed type, which mostly solves the problem of flooding in village communities. As for type 2, it will be open type, which means that it must go through a survey and assessment of suitability to find a place to dig a well according to all theoretical aspects. If there is no survey of suitability, it will be considered unprofitable because the principle of underground water bank is to dig a well until the ground level to use natural pressure to pull water underground, not digging a well and then putting a PVC pipe in the middle of the well as found.

“I don't say who is right or wrong, but I believe that what has been done is not in accordance with the theory, and I would like the executives of the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization to come out and clarify the matter to confirm to the people, or if it is not beneficial, the project should be suspended because I know that the Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization Council has proposed a budget for 2025 to dig several more water bank projects,” said Mr. Watana.