Bangkok needs a public health system that is easy to access, an interconnected transit system running on clean energy and many more dust pollution checkpoints, according to at least four Bangkok governor candidates.
Independent candidate, Chadchart Sittipunt, said residents must have easy access to public health care and there should be a green space within 800 metres of where they live.
He was among four candidates speaking at a forum yesterday organised to showcase their visions by the Department of Environment Engineering at Chulalongkorn University and other lecturers and students in the field
Mr Chadchart said a Bangkok governor must be proactive in tackling the city's environmental problems since City Hall must work with other agencies to resolve them.
For example, City Hall is powerless to arrest motorists whose vehicles produce black exhaust fumes that exceed legal limits. That authority lies with the Department of Land Transport.
Another independent candidate, Sakoltee Phattiyakul, told the forum more private and public transport vehicles should be electric.
He suggested a more comprehensive mass-transit system served by seamless interchanges between rail and boat transport. Such was the project he started when he was deputy Bangkok governor and which he vowed to expand on it if he was elected governor.
Mr Sakoltee quit as deputy governor to run for the top post.
He added the new governor should be entrepreneurial by offering concessions to private firms to dispose of the city's waste on a daily basis. This way, the rubbish would be more effectively dealt with and City Hall would generate some revenue.
Move Forward Party candidate, Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, said the urban poor produced the least pollution but suffered most from it.
The governor must lay down the law by banning smoke-belching vehicles from the streets, he said.
