Thai energy measures miss the
mark By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Thailand's energy-conservation scheme,
due to start this month in the wake of high world oil
prices, will run right into the country's love affair
with cars, and anger shoppers.
The government of
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plans a number of
conservation measures as part of the scheme, including
that automobile fuel stations across the country close
from midnight until dawn, and shortening the operating
hours of department stores and complexes. But analysts
say the moves will not make a dent in the ballooning
fuel bill in the capital, since the public transport
system is weak.
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
Southeast Asian country to skyrocketing oil prices.
Ninety-five percent of the country's petroleum
needs are met by imports, and much 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 said. "The direction of development is
weighted in favor of roads, not rail, which is far
cheaper and less damaging on the environment."
Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen, an independent
energy analyst, told IPS, "There will be little energy
saved when the government's program is implemented."
That stems from the government's reluctance to
consider a key energy-saving option - floating the price
of automotive fuel in the domestic market. "If you want
people to save energy, you should increase the price of
oil," Chuenchom said, adding that keeping prices
artificially low does not encourage the wise use of
fuel.
There is little mystery why the Thaksin
administration wants to stick to subsidizing oil prices
and shielding the domestic market from price hikes 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% lower than the market rate - is costing the country
250 million baht (US$6.25 million) per day, and the
annual gas-subsidy bill is expected to reach 70 billion
baht ($1.68 billion).
The trap Thailand finds
itself in because of rising global oil prices is made
worse by Bangkok's much-heralded plans to convert the
country into the center of car production in Asia - or
to continue to be known as the "Detroit of Asia". This
vision includes having the domestic factories of foreign
car makers roll out 1 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 city of more than 10 million people.
And to ensure there are more roads for the cars
to drive on, the government has pledged to pump 400
billion baht ($9.6 billion) to build new roads.
Little wonder analysts such as Chuenchom are
dismissing the government's hope of saving energy
through the other elements of the new conservation
program, 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
11am to 9pm, 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 this lucrative segment.
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]," said Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of
the Travel Impact Newswire. "I don't think tourists will
stop coming due to these new measures," he said. "The
tourism sector has little to fear."
The
country's energy minister, however, has set his sights
on the new business hours to make savings. The
government expects annual savings of up to 3.8 billion
baht ($91.7 million) due to the shorter hours for large
retail outlets, energy minister Prommin Lertsuridej told
the media.
