A civic network in Nakhon Nayok is stepping up its campaign against the proposed Pasak–Gulf of Thailand flood diversion canal, accusing authorities of misrepresenting the outcome of public consultations and downplaying strong local resistance to the project.
The Nakhonnayok Citizen Association, the Nakhon Nayok Civic Network, and residents rejected official accounts that characterised local feedback as merely expressing concerns rather than outright opposition.
The group was responding to minutes from the fifth meeting of the National Water Resources Committee (NWRC) held on Dec 3, 2025, during which the committee considered the Pasak–Gulf flood diversion canal project.
According to the association, the committee's secretariat reported that public consultations had found "no objections or conflicts from the public, only concerns regarding the project."
The civic group said this account was "seriously inconsistent with the facts" and distorted the intentions of residents directly affected by the project in Nakhon Nayok.
It cited a public hearing held on June 5, 2024, at Ongkharak School in Ongkharak district, where residents openly protested the project by displaying anti-project placards during the meeting.
The association also claimed project representatives failed to provide clear answers to questions raised by participants regarding the canal's potential environmental and community impacts.
The group argued that describing the consultation as having found "no objections or conflicts" was not an innocent error but a deliberate choice of wording that reduced explicit public opposition to mere "concerns."
The association called on the Royal Irrigation Department, which oversees the project, and the Office of the National Water Resources, which serves as secretary to the NWRC, to clarify the matter and amend the consultation report. It also urged authorities to stop relying on what it described as distortions as the basis for advancing the project until the entire public consultation and participation process has been reviewed and conducted anew in a transparent and verifiable manner.
