The just-finished visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad brought scenes of good neighbourliness between Mahathir and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but these brought little cheer to opponents of a controversial gas pipeline project between the two countries.

Slowed down by public protests for years, the project — which under initial plans was to have gone into operation this year — got another endorsement over the weekend from no less than Thailand and Malaysia's prime ministers.

Mahathir left Thailand Sunday with confirmation from Thaksin that his government will go ahead with the gas pipeline project, despite opposition from local people and environmentalists.

The pipeline project, a joint venture between the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and Petronas of Malaysia, is supposed to flow from the Gulf of Thailand, on shore to Songkhla province, 950km south of Bangkok, and then on to Malaysia.

The project, to include a 255-km offshore pipeline, is envisioned to produce more than one billion cubic feet of gas a day. Community protests continue today, despite some changes in the route of the pipeline.

Complaint against project

On Friday, about 100 protesters gathered in front of the Malaysian consulate in Songkhla to lodge a complaint against the project. In Bangkok, their counterparts handed a letter to Mahathir through the Malaysian embassy, calling for the cancellation of a project that they said would harm the environment as well as their livelihoods.

''The Thai government's decision-making process has been made against the will and provisions of the 1997 Constitution, which guarantees communities the right to participate in efforts to conserve and manage their natural resources, environment and livelihood,'' the opponents said in their letter.

They added that tens of thousands of people from four southern districts in Thailand, who would be affected directly and indirectly by the project, have accused the Thai and Malaysian authorities of not paying heed to their repeated appeals and demands.

Protests have married the project since the two governments signed joint contracts in April 1998 and then in October 1999.

''The project is a problem between the government and the public. We try to solve the problem through our own law and rights of public participation in the decision-making process,'' said Bangchong Nasae, a project opponent, in an interview with a local newspaper.

Highly inappropriate

''It would be highly inappropriate if Dr Mahathir was to push for a project that has pitched local people against their government,'' Banchong added.

The group also claimed that the Thai and Malaysian decision to press ahead with the project goes against environmental studies that called for a review because of its potential environmental and social impacts.

''We learned from the environmental impact assessment (EIA) that placing the pipelines will cause sludge in the sea. This will affect fisheries, the main income of over tens of thousands of villagers,'' Kittipob Suthisawang, a leader of the group called Chana Rak Tin ('Chana Love Homeland', named after the southern district Chana where the gas separation plans would be located), said in an interview.

It is clearly stated in the pipeline agreement that once the project starts, casting fishnets in the area by the pipeline would be prohibited, he added.

''We are also afraid that pollution from gas separation plants will effect the farming of nok khoa (a local singing bird) and related businesses,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate committee on the environment and the National Human Rights Committee have asked the Thaksin government to review the project.

In reaction to these concerns, Thakin said, ''It is normal for people to have different views on the pipeline project.''

Determine exact route

He added that the government is working to determine the exact route of the pipeline, after it undertook changes to reroute the pipeline to comeonshore 5km away from the original site in order to meet public concerns.

But the residents along some stretches of the gas pipeline route point out that although the pipeline's head location has been changed, the tail remains in the old route.

Two public hearings were held in July and October last year, but locals say they doubt the process and question the transparency of contracts and agreements made by the project partners as well as foreign contractors involved in it.

Earlier studies by Chulalongkorn University, the Prince of Songkhla University and the Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs also had a common finding — the production sharing contracts (PSC) do not primarily benefit Thai national coffers.

Despite a 50:50 investment share between Thailand and Malaysia in the project developer Trans Thailand-Malaysia (TTM) Company, the contracts show that Thailand would earn only five percent of royalties while most of the income would go to foreign investors and operating companies.

Local reports say the talks between Malaysian and Thai officials over the weekend did not touch much on the environmental concerns of communities.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Rathakit Manathat says Mahathir pushed for progress on the project, which was originally due to go into operation this year so that Malaysia would receive gas by 2002 and Thailand, five years later.

He said Mahathir expressed fears that the re-routing of the pipeline would push up construction costs. Thailand, he said, should confirm that there would be no disruption once work starts on the pipeline, and after it opens.

Additional US$5 million

A PTT executive was quoted as saying the new route would add over 215 million baht (US$5 million) to the current project budget of US$900 million.

The PTT, government officials, and the prime minister's military advisory team believe that the project proposes to bring 'quality of life' and 'national benefits' to communities.

But ''we can be sure that only well-educated people will be needed in these high technology business, while we, the locals, might only benefit with little money from the construction process,'' said Kittipob. ''What will we do after that?''

Only a few hundreds or at most 1,200 persons would get jobs during the pipeline construction phase and no more than 200 would be employed while the gas separation plants are built, he added.

''We've always been a self-reliant community,'' said Kittipob. ''But once the gas pipeline is built, we are afraid we can't be that anymore.''

Meantime, project developer Trans Thai-Malaysia says it is prepared to start construction on the pipeline as soon as a permit is granted — and villagers opposed to the project say they have already formed patrols to prevent any work from getting underway. — IPS