Thursday, June 21, 2012

Energy Access in Urban Slums: A Case of Khon Kaen, Thailand

Asian Institute of Technology PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

The study provides a general background of energy accessibility in poor urban areas of Thailand particularly slum areas of municipalities. According to the Thailand Municipality Act, (1953), a minimum population density of 3000 per square kilometer is considered municipality areas and until the date of 2006, there are 1,161 settlement areas are recognized as municipality in Thailand. The initial assessment study was focused mainly in Bangkok but this study focuses on Khon Kaen and some part of Bangkok as suggested in initial assessment report. Khon Kaen is a city located towards the North of Thailand. In Bangkok and its suburbs electricity is distributed by a single utility, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and in the rest of the country, electricity is distributed by the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).
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Bangkok is the capital city of Thailand where 32 percent of urban populations of Thailand are populated (UNDP, 2005). As of March 2005, Bangkok Metropolis has 5,641,915 populations living in 50 districts on an area covering more than 1,500 km2 2. The Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), often referred to as Greater Bangkok, comprises of Bangkok and the five adjacent provinces of Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom. The total population of Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) is 9.4 millions in the year 2000 and annual growth rate is 1.62 % during 1990-2000 (Pornchokchai, 2003).
Bangkok Municipality Area (BMA) has 35 times larger population than the second largest city in the country, Chang Mai. Bangkok urban areas account for 85% of economic output with 15.2% poverty incidence rate (World Bank, 2002). Urban areas of the Thailand have been the center of attraction for local labor migration because of comparatively better facilities such as transportation, public health and other infrastructure. People from the rural areas migrate to urban areas in search of better employment opportunities and higher income and start to live surrounding highways, rivers, and rail lines, and/or proximate to industrial employment areas (World Bank, 2002). A study shows that 81% of the dwellers in Bangkok region are migrated from other regions or slums and 78% are permanently settled in the region anticipating the higher prospect of employment and better chance of rented housing availability (Guerra, 2004).

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more about urban Thailand:

URBAN TRANSPORT AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN ASIAN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Research on Internal Migration in Thailand: The State of Knowledge

Urban Ecology in Bangkok, Thailand: Community Participation, Urban Agriculture and Forestry

Urbanization and Urbanism in Thailand

Despite planning MRT, BRT and SRT lines, Bangkok still suffers from traffic congestion

Great distance between Bangkok and Thailand's second largest city, Nonthaburi

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