The assurance of resolving flood problem in Bangkok on a sustainable basis was given by Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra while he led a tour of media representatives to inspect the site of the eighth flood tunnel today.
The site is in the middle of the Bang Sue canal and now has been turned into a massive construction site, in which in the near future, the location would be modified into a flood water intake structure with the capacity to pump water at a rate of 30 cubic metres per second.
The flood tunnel will be built 30 metres under the Bang Sue canal.
According to the governor, the Bang Sue tunnel is five metres wide, and now 700 metres of the total length have already been bored. The tunnel is expected to be completed by 2016.
Boring the tunnel started since the New Year, and 700 metres or around 28 percent have been completed from the total length of around 6.4 kilometres.
A day work can get 18 metres in length.
The construction has started in the middle of the canal, from Kampaeng Phet Road leading to the Kiak Kai intersection and this section of the tunnel would be completed first, before the workers would start to work backward toward Ratchada road.
BMA has allocated a budget of almost 2.5 billion baht for the construction and is expecting to complete the whole tunnel within 1,080 days, just in time of the rainy season in September next year.
The Bang Sue tunnel will serve as a receiver for excess water from the canals starting from the Lad Prao canal in Ratchada Pisek area, down to the water bypass which is 30 metres deep from the ground, along the Bang Sue canal and through Vibhavadi Rangsit Road to Paholyothin, Samsen, before pumping out the excess water into Chao Phraya river.
The Bang Sue tunnel will have the same pumping capacity as the Rama 9 tunnel and will be responsible to take in the excess water from the northern part of Bangkok.
Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhan Paribatra said the tunnel will drain water from the areas that are usually hit by flooding every year, particularly in Ratchada area, Ladprao, and Chatuchak, and pump out excess water straight into the Chao Phraya river.
Bangkok already has 7 giant tunnels and Bang Sue tunnel is its eighth .
The BMA has planned to further construct four more giant tunnels which will ensure that flooding in the capital will be resolved sustainably.
Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/eighth-flood-tunnel-construction-to-save-bangkok-from-flooding-making-progress
