Japanese Technology Helps in Flood Control

Bangkok, the political, cultural and economic capital of Thailand is a growing metropolis.

It is located on the flat and low-lying area of the Chao Phraya river, with an average elevation of 1.5 meters above sea level.

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Most of the area was originally swamp land, which was gradually drained and irrigated by the construction of canals, between sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Flood control during the rainy season is one of the most important challenges in Bangkok.

The city has vast network of canals, but its draining ability is limited and unsustainable when it rains heavily.

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"Bangkok City is very flat area near the sea side. The height from the sea level is almost the sea level. So, I cannot easily drain by gravity and it needs a system to help, we need a pump." Pheeraphon Oummanutchart, Senior Manager, EBARA Thailand Limited

In order to cope with floods, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration constructed a drainage underground tunnel by connecting the Makkasan Pond to and three canals in the city, to a pump station at the Chao Phraya river.

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The inlet shaft tunnel allows the water from the Makkasan pond to flow into the tunnel which has an internal diameter of 15 meters.

This drainage shaft can sustain water of 30 cubic meters per second.

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The drainage tunnel was built underground with a depth of 30m from surface, internal diameter of 4.6 meters and a length of 6,000 meters by connecting drainage shafts to each of the canals and to the pump station.

The drainage tunnel is finally connecting here at Wat the Chonglom Pump Station.

The water collected from the city flows into this shaft tunnel by the pump station's suction power which is located by the Chao Phraya river.

This pumping station consists of five sets of large sized pumps.

The whole drainage system was designed and constructed by the EBARA Corporation of Japan, a manufacturer of large scale pumps designed with the help of latest in hydrodynamics technology.

The EBARA Corporation provides the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration a solution to counter flooding problem in Bangkok.

Japanese firms are also expanding their base in countries like Sri Lanka.

On August 19, the Colombo-based Expolanka Holdings PLC and the SG Holdings Group of Japan celebrated their collaboration in Colombo.

Earlier this year, the SG Holding Group acquired over 51 per cent of Expolanka's shares by investing 84 million USD. This was the largest single transaction in foreign direct investment executed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.

SG Holdings, the holding company of theSagawa Group, is the leading logistics company in Japan and has a remarkable presence in Asia with 24 subsidiaries in 14 countries.

"We negotiated with Expolanka for over two years. We are finally starting working together. We hope our relationship with Sri Lanka will be extended hereafter. I believe that this particular union of SG Holdings and Expolanka will contribute in further strengthening economic ties of Japan with Sri Lanka. We are aiming to expand the large scale freight forwarding business and third party logistics business in South Asia." Eiichi Kuriwada, SG Holdings Chairman.

Expolanka is a leading diversified conglomerate that maintains leadership in the Sri Lankan market in its global freight and logistics business with a footprint in 90 countries and 45 offices spread across the world.

"Being freight forward with SG Holdings, I want to use their expertise in warehouse, pickup and transportations, and their domestic transportations, because the business in the Indian Subcontinent is growing. India is becoming a consumer market; China is becoming a consumer market. So I was looking for a major player in this whole area which will help us to move from freight forwarding business into supply chain business, and transaction company to move into a solution company. So this all combination would give me a lot of extends, a lot of synergies to take it forward faster than what I thought." Manabu Sakai, Japanese Deputy Minister of Lands, Infrastructure Facilities, Transport and Tourism.

"Expolanka is expanding its business widely especially in West Asia, India and Bangladesh. We have concluded that this merger with Expolanka will make huge synergy effect." Nobuaki Kondo, Chairman, Expolanka Holdings.

Expolanka and SG Holdings have a Group have high levels of expertise in the transportation of apparels.

The union will provide their collective know-how in order to respond to the specialized needs of the Asian apparel industry.

Source-ANI