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Flood barriers and seawalls in Thailand
News #234: Vietnam high-speed railway map, Penang LRT construction from December, Philippines aviation hub In Asia, Singapore replacing horse racing with homes.
James Clark
October 09, 2024
The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter features transport and urban development news in Southeast Asia, edited by James Clark.
I’m still in Chiang Mai, and the city is recovering from a major flood that happened over the weekend. Where I live wasn’t in the flood zone, but the flood zone was a large area.
Chiang Mai flood area October 2024.
Before the flood, I was walking around Warorot Market near the river, and I was observing shops sandbagging and bricking up their entrances. The Shangri-La Hotel took its flood defence to the next level by building a flood barrier.
Here was the flood at the edge of the old city on Saturday, and the market clean-up on Tuesday.
Somewhat related, this week’s article is about the proposed Gulf of Thailand seawall that will work as a flood barrier for Bangkok. I scheduled to write this before the Chiang Mai flood, so I have had flooding on my mind this week.
The flood waters of Northern Thailand are now making their way downhill to Bangkok. I’m wondering if there will be a repeat of the 2011 floods in Bangkok.
Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, October 2011.
I put together the Gulf of Thailand Seawall factsheet to try and make sense of the project. Some reports say it will be 100 km in length, which would make it the entire length of the Upper Gulf Coast. The sea defence will be a string of islands, which would require an inordinate amount of sand. The other problem would be letting out flood water from the river at the same time as a high tide.
Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia
The plan to build a city on artificial islands in the Gulf of Thailand to form a seawall for Greater Bangkok.
Updated posts at Future Southeast Asia
There has been a trainload of articles about the high-speed railway in Vietnam this month, so I have updated the Vietnam HSR resource page. I have organised the page into different categories and I will update again this month as there will be another meeting about it.
Vietnam High-speed Railway map
I have made a Google Map that shows the proposed locations of the high-speed stations. The map also includes the current stations, so you can see how far outside the city the stations will be.
View the Google Map of the Vietnam High-Speed Railway stations.
(Hat-tip to KEVINDOAN@Urbanist on Facebook for the map tip).
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News Extra
Travel plans for Q4 2024, the HCMC Metro, cool neighbourhoods as a measure of urban development, the case of the 90-storey tower proposal in Ho Chi Minh City.
News Extra for paid subscribers, which expands on news stories and some insights into what I am working on.
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🇰🇭 Cambodia
“Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, First Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, said that a working group has been surveying the land affected by the Funan Techo Canal megaproject, noting that it will take at least six months to a year to complete the assessment.”
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇱🇦 Laos
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇵🇭 Philippines
🇸🇬 Singapore
🇹🇭 Thailand
"A 1,496-rai plot of land near Songkhla Lake in Phatthalung has finally been selected as the site for a new airport in this southern province."
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