Published on Sep 27, 2005

The first technical test for Suvarnabhumi Airport might be awaited with excitement by government officials and onlookers on Thursday - but two temples and academic institutions located nearby have a different view. The four noise-sensitive institutions are hardly happy being close by the new airport, as they will suffer high levels of noise pollution - especially when the new facility is handing up to 76 takeoffs and landings an hour.

Wat Lat Krabang, Wat Bumrungruen, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Lat Krabang and Wat Lat Krabang School will be subjected to noise levels of between 70 and 75 decibels because they are situated next to one of the runways.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is due to land at Suvarnabhumi on Thursday. The PM and his Cabinet will be aboard a Thai Airways Airbus A340-600 that will make a trial flight from Don Muang airport.

Suvarnabhumi is due to be formally opened next year.

According to an environmental impact study on the noise at the new airport, facilities close by should not be affected by deafening noise.

A private team hired by the New Bangkok International Airport conducted the study.

Somchai Sirawanakorn, a teacher at Wat Lat Krabang School, said the runway could be seen from the second floor of the school’s buildings. After inspecting landings and takeoffs at Don Muang airport, he said the noise was very loud and would be especially annoying with 76 fights an hour.

“We were told that the runway would be used for landings nine months of the year and takeoffs for three months. School executives plan to make some changes to the school’s starting and finishing times,” the teacher said.

“We are concerned that students will pay more attention to the planes than their classes.”

Somchai said the airport had proposed putting noise-proof glass and air-conditioners in the school, but it would not be responsible for the additional electricity charges.

Phra Khru Anukulsarakij, abbot of Wat Bumrungruen, said noise-proof glass had already been installed at some of the monks’ dwellings and the sermon hall. But the abbot said he was still concerned that more than 20 monks and novices learning dhamma at the temple would find it hard to concentrate with all the noise.

He said the temple’s buildings had subsided more than 60 centimetres over the last three years during the airport construction.

Dr Sucharit Prasarnsuk, a specialist at Siriraj Hospital, said 70 decibels was a deafening level that could cause long-term damage to auditory nerves. Students who have to endure such levels over a long period could have blood-circulation problems or display more aggressive behaviour because they have to shout all the time.

Kesa Nimrahong

The Nation

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Press meet to go ahead

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will still meet the press on Thursday even though he and his Cabinet are scheduled to officially inaugurate the first flight to Suvarnabhumi Airport the same day.

Thaksin said the weekly press conference would go ahead but he had yet to decide where.

The Nation