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DEVELOPMENT-THAILAND: Energy Saving Measures to Cramp Lifestyles
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Aug 31, 2004 (IPS) - Thailand's energy-conservation scheme, due to
start in September amid rising oil prices, will run right into this
country's love affair with cars.
After all, some middle and upper-middle class homes in Bangkok revel
in having a car per adult family member.
This is just one of the many conservation measures the government of
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is planning, including shortening the
operating hours of department stores and complexes to petrol stations.
But the government's order for petrol stations across the country to
close from 12 midnight till dawn will not make a dent in the ballooning
fuel bill in the capital, since the public transport system is weak, say
analysts.
But as the country debates how best to respond to the rising price
of oil on the international market, there is little disagreement about
one glaring reality - the vulnerability of this South-east Asian country
to skyrocketing oil prices, which has come close to reaching 50 U.S.
dollars a barrel.
Ninety-five percent of the country's petroleum needs is met by
imports and a bulk of it is poured into the transportation sector.
Natural gas, coal and hydropower are the batteries that supply energy to
the industrial sector and households.
''We are paying the price for our American lifestyle, the obsession
with cars and road transport,'' Suphakij Nuntavorkan, of the
non-governmental Sustainable Energy Network of Thailand, said in an
interview.
There has been little effort to develop an alternative
transportation blueprint, he added. ''The direction of development is
weighted in favour of roads, not rail, which is far more cheaper and
less damaging on the environment.''
''There will be little energy saved when the government's programme is
implemented,'' Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen, an independent energy analyst,
told IPS.
That stems from the government's reluctance to consider a key
energy-saving
option - floating the price of petrol in the domestic market. ''If you
want people to save energy, you should increase the price of oil,''
Chuenchom added, saying that keeping prices artificially low does not
encourage the wise use of petrol.
There is little mystery why the administration of Prime Minister
Thaksin wants to stick to subsidising oil prices and shielding the
domestic market from price rises owing to changes in the international
market - a general election is a few months away.
Bangkok's oil subsidy - capping the price of diesel, for instance, to 25
percent lower than the market rate - is costing the country 250 million
baht (6.25 million U.S. dollars) per day, and the annual gas subsidy
bill is expected to reach 70 billion baht (1.68 billion dollars).
The trap Thailand finds itself in due to rising global oil prices is
made
worse by Bangkok's much heralded plans to convert this country into the
centre of car production in Asia - or to be known as the 'Detroit of Asia'.
This vision includes having the domestic factories of foreign car makers
roll out one million cars from their production lines annually, a figure
that is expected to be crossed by 2005.
In 2003, according to available reports, Thailand produced 750,000 new
cars, of which 600,000 rolled on to the streets of the country, while the
rest were exported.
Currently, Bangkok alone has an estimated 5.5 million vehicles that clog
the network of roads in this capital of more than 6 million people.
And to ensure there are more roads for the cars to drive along, the
government has pledged to pump 400 billion baht (9.6 billion dollars) to
build new roads.
Little wonder why analysts like Chuenchom are dismissing the
government's
hope of saving energy through the other elements of the new conservation
programme ordering, shopping malls and hypermarkets to close earlier to
reduce power consumption.
''The energy that will be saved is natural gas and coal, which are
used to
generate power to meet the country's demands at night,'' she said. ''Oil is
not a factor during these hours.''
Under the energy-saving measure approved by the cabinet, department
stores
can stay open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., shaving off an hour from the start
and end of the day.
But such adjustments will have little impact on the tourism sector, say
analysts, given the initial fear that the government's plans may dampen the
flow of cash coming from the lucrative tourism sector. More than 10
million tourists come to Thailand each year.
''The department stores are an important part of the shopping experience
for tourists, but not the only ones. Tourists go to many other places for
bargains, to the shops in areas like Pratunam (a bargain shopping
area),'' Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of the 'Travel Impact
Newswire,' said in an interview.
''I don't think tourists will stop coming due to these new
measures,'' he
added. ''The tourism sector has little to fear.''
The country's energy minister, however, has set his sights on the new
business hours for the country to make savings. The government expects
annual savings of up to 3.8 billion baht (91.7 million dollars) due to
the shorter hours for large retail outlets, Energy Minister Prommin
Lertsuridej told the media.
(END)
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