Sahaviriya reluctant to invest more until green rules clarified

       The Sahaviriya Group, the country's largest steel producer, will not invest in any big projects locally until uncertainties about environmental and health impact regulations are cleared up, says president Win Viriyaprapaikit.
       "There's too high a risk for us to invest a lot of money here; we also need to limit our damages. From now on we will invest only in small projects that complement the production lines we already have here, so there will be limited damage if anything happens," he said.
       "We would rather invest in massive capital projects overseas."
       Sahaviriya recently abandoned a fouryear attempt to develop an upstream steel project and smelter worth 500 billion baht. It had faced strong opposition by environmental activists and communities near the planned site in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
       However, the final decision to give up - after 3 billion baht in preparation costs - came after a court in April declared the heavily industrialised Map Ta Phut area of Rayong a pollutioncontrol zone. The ruling called into question a whole range of environmental regulations and put the brakes on hundreds of billions of baht in planned industrial investments.
       At issue is the interpretation of Section 67 of the 2007 Constitution, which seeks to protect the public from the harmful effects of some industries. The central government and local authorities are
       still debating what kinds of controls will be required and how they will be enforced.
       The Council of State recently ruled that authorities can use existing laws to grant operating permits Win: Big projects to factories in Map overseas a choice Ta Phut with previously approved environmental impact assessment (EIA)reports However, Mr Win said the Council of State's ruling was just a short-term solution, while in the long term, there is no guarantee that industrial investments won't face more legal challenges.
       "[Activists] threatened to bring the government to court right after the premier gave the go-head to authorities last week to proceed with issuing operating permits [to factories with approved EIAs].In fact, the law gives the authorities the power to do so," Mr Win said.
       "I don't think we can take risks doing anything big here in this [unclear] climate."
       Mr Win says that Section 67 needs to be rectified since the law now creates two authorised bodies to examine projects.
       "There is an independent committee responsible for inspecting EIA reports.Why does the law require one more committee to look after the same issue?If they want to ensure a project's environmental management policy, they should design a single committee that covers the whole thing," he said.
       "In my view, the new committee could have more power to abort any projects it wishes to even though the state authorities have already given their approval."
       Sahaviriya is the country's biggest hotrolled coil producer. Its subsidiary, Sahaviriya Steel Industries Plc (SSI), also produces cold-rolled coil and other steel products.
       SSI closed on Friday on the SET at 0.92 baht, up one satang.