hearing on resorts in parks

"We are open to opinions," the caretaker Natural Resources and Environment Minister Anongwan Thepsuthin said yesterday.

She has supported the plan, which has drawn widespread opposition from environmental¬ists and conservationists, some of whom have already launched a sig¬nature campaign to show how many people are against the idea of letting private investors manage accommodation services in national parks.

The ministry's permanent sec¬retary Saksit Tridej yesterday encouraged academics, conserva¬tionists and nongovernmental organisations to participate in the upcoming public hearing.

He revealed that the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department would soon submit development plans for national parks to his ministry.

"The pros and cons should be clearly listed," he said.

Recently it was widely specu¬lated that Chakkrit Wisitpanich lost his top post at the National Park Office because he did not wholeheartedly welcome the plan to engage private investors to operate resort and hotel businesses in national parks.

Chakkrit had headed the National Park Office for just one month, when he was transferred to the Protected Area Rehabilitation and Management Office.