‘I don’t want to be a politician who works for only four years’
Written by changthai11 on Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Battling for Bangkok
‘I don’t want to be a politician who works for only four years’
Kriangsak pledges to raise global city ranking
CHATRUDEE THEPARAT
Kriangsak pledges to raise global city ranking
Kriangsak Charoenwongsak, an independent candidate for Bangkok governor, has vowed to put Bangkok in the top 20 of the world’s best cities list by 2020.
”I don’t want to be a politician who works for only four years,” said Dr Kriangsak, known to many voters as Dr Dan.
”I want to lay solid development foundations for Bangkok in the next 12 years to meet world standards and become one of the 20 best cities in the world.”
Mercer Consulting’s 2008 survey found that the world’s best cities, based on quality of life, include Zurich, Vienna and Geneva.
Bangkok was ranked 109th, down from 102nd in 2004, due in large part to pollution caused by heavy traffic and garbage.
Dr Kriangsak said that although Bangkok won Travel + Leisure magazine’s award as the World’s Best City 2008, this was based on tourism and did not reflect real quality of life.
”The top five in Mercer’s best cities survey were not listed as best for travel because the criteria are different,” he said.
The 53-year-old former Democrat MP plans to implement 300 policies across all areas to provide foundations for city development.
He said he aims to raise standards of living and improve education, transport, security and the environment.
For example, to reduce traffic problems, he will speed up the mass-transit projects to be completed by 2012 and will propose two more elevated rail lines _ the MRT Lat Phrao-Bang Kapi route and the BTS route from the National Stadium to Pin Klao Bridge _ to connect with the nine existing lines.
”Metro Port” or suburban offices will be developed in four residential areas so people can travel more cheaply to town and traffic congestion can be reduced.
To meet demand from commuters at Metro Port and downtown, he will equip Bangkok with wireless internet and GPS navigation systems for keeping track of bus arrival times.
He also plans to develop more tourism spots in 50 districts and to enhance the city’s appearance by developing more parks and improving the design of roadside vendors’ shops.
He said a survey showed that the city had 841 privately owned locations appropriate for developing parks.
He also aims to decentralise tourism income to the community by developing the city according to public participation, promoting home-stay businesses, small restaurants and tourism gift shops.
Improvement in garbage collection and water management will also be encouraged to prevent contamination of water and soil resources.
Currently, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) can collect garbage only in inner Bangkok, leaving 2,000 tonnes of garbage per day.
Around 9,000 tonnes of electronic waste are also estimated to be created each year, while the BMA can collect only 52 tonnes.
