Dr. Wantanee Wattana, Permanent Secretary of BMA, revealed that The Celebrations on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King’s 6th Cycle Birthday Anniversary 28th July 2024, at the meeting of the Bangkok Executive Committee, agencies under Bangkok reported that there would be 12 projects in honor of His Majesty the King in Bangkok. 5 projects used the budget and 7 projects that did not use the budget. All are beneficial projects in various fields such as health. There is a project to screen and replace 72 free knee joints for the public, a project to change eye lenses for 720 people with vision problems, and a project to invite people to donate blood to solve the blood shortage problem. In the area of Sufficiency Economy, there will be 72 activities during the year to educate people in the area so that they can apply the knowledge of Sufficiency Economy to their benefit. The important physical aspect is that a project will be proposed to develop Nong Bon Lake, an area of 644 rai, into a water sports center. It will be connected to a large garden, Suan Luang Rama 9, which has an area of over 500 rai. If it can be implemented, this park will be a large park with a size of 1,144 rai.

“Due to His Majesty the King’s royal policy, he would like to see the canals in Bangkok returned, Bangkok has developed 200 canals in 50 districts to return them to being the Venice of the East, including working with network partners to develop the Prem Prachakorn Canal and the Chao Phraya River to be cleaner and more beautiful. Bangkok will present an overview of all 12 projects to the Prime Minister’s Office Committee for consideration and further publicity.”

She added that although the Department of Drainage is the main host in ensuring that the canal is not shallow, it must ask for cooperation from the public to use grease filters before releasing water into the canal. When the canals become clearer, we ask everyone to follow and see how we will revive the way of life of people along canals such as Ong Ang Canal, Bang Lamphu Canal, Saen Saep Canal, and Phadung Krung Kasem Canal.

“The issue of flooding is visible in market areas even though we have already dredged all canals and ditches. We found that there was a lot of fat blockage. It is time to ask for cooperation from the people to use grease traps in every restaurant and home to filter out some of the grease. If we cooperate initially and the district dredges ditches more frequently, we expect the results will be better.”