Crisis relief measures hammered out
The government has teamed up with construction material and consumer product companies to offer special discounts to flood victims in the southern provinces. Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, permanent secretary for commerce, said the traders agreed to the discounts following talks with the Commerce Ministry. The reductions will help with the costs of renovations and repairs of homes ravaged by the floods. The discount rates will be available after the floods subside, she said. “The Commerce Ministry has been closely monitoring the flooding through ‘Mini MoC’ officials in the affected provinces, and found that although many roads have been flooded, heavy trucks can still run through them,” she said. “More importantly, there are many distribution centres now operating in the South, so a shortage of consumer products is unlikely.” The Mini MoC (Ministry of Commerce) is the working mechanism created by the Commerce Ministry last year that divides areas of responsibility into seven spheres.
