Quote:Activists slam govt's Night Safari decision

Newly set-up firm 'will worsen problems'

Activists have slammed the government's decision to set up a new company to operate the much-criticised Chiang Mai Night Safari project, saying it will only worsen the problems plaguing the zoo. Nikom Phutta, of the Wildlife Fund Thailand's Chiang Mai office, said the government's decision to set up a company to run the Night Safari in a bid to salvage the zoo's business was wrong.

The Surayud Chulanont government will repeat the mistakes of the ousted Thaksin Shinawatra administration if it allows the zoo to continue the business, Mr Nikom said yesterday.

The activist's comment came after the cabinet resolved on Tuesday to continue the project by setting up a new state company to take over the zoo operation from the Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta) to improve management.

The company and the zoo will come under the supervision of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, according to the cabinet.

Mr Nikom said the government was passing a ''hot potato'' to the ministry by transferring the project from Dasta.

The ministry, he said, would have to shoulder a huge loss caused by the poor management of the zoo.

Instead of establishing a new body to run the zoo, the government should set up an investigation committee to probe the alleged irregularities surrounding the project as well as Dasta chief Plodprasop Suraswadi, who supervises the zoo, said Mr Nikom.

Chaipant Prabhasvat, director of the Chiang Mai-based Institute for Community Rights, an independent research group, urged the government to scrap the Night Safari as the government might have to use taxpayer money to subsidise it.

He said the government should turn the 1.15-billion-baht zoo into a forest plantation and distribute the more than 2,000 wild animals to other state zoos.

Petipong Pungbun na Ayudhya, the Natural Resources and Environment permanent secretary, said he was still confused over Tuesday's cabinet resolution and needed to study further what the government wanted from the newly set up firm.

Deputy director of the Chiang Mai Night Safari, Preecha Ratanaporn, said it was too soon to conclude whether the project was worth the investment and yielded sufficient income or not because it had only been open a year so far.

''What I can say is that the zoo business runs as it should do,'' he said.

The Chiang Mai Night Safari was initiated by ousted prime minister Thaksin in 2002 as part of his ambitious plan to transform Chiang Mai into a world-class tourism destination.