The cabinet met on Monday, June 18, 2013. Some of the decisions are as follows:
Following the suggestion from Ministry of Labor, the Cabinet agreed with the resolution made at the State Enterprise Labor Relations Committee meeting (3/2013) on June 20, 2013 on financial matters related to conditions of employment, according to section 13 (2) of the State Enterprise Labor Relations Act B.E. 2553 for paternity leave. The details are as follows:
1. Employees intending to request for leave to assist their lawful wife in childcare (paternity leave) must submit their leave form on or before the intended leave days, and within 90 days after child’s birth. They must request for the paternity leave for no more than 15 consecutive working days per each request. Proof of documents may be required by supervisors as part of the approval process.
2. Paternity leave to assist lawful wife in childcare that is submitted within 30 days after child’s birth (paternity leave) is entitled for no more than 15 days of full salary. The leave requested after 30 days since child’s birth will be a leave without pay unless top supervisors consider otherwise. In that case, the leave-with-pay period must not exceed 15 working days.
The Cabinet agreed and approved the following resolutions made by Water and Flood Management Commission following the suggestion from Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi in his capacity as the Commission chairman:
1. Approved the loan plan stipulated under the Royal Decree Authorizing the Ministry of Finance to Raise and Administer Loans for Water Resource Management and Future Development, B.E. 2555 for the total amount of 314,337.875 million Baht. Details are as follows:
1.1) 291,000 million Baht for the projects aiming at designing and constructing of sustainable water management and flood prevention of the country
1.2) 10,000 million Baht for the restoration and preservation of forests, soil and check dams
1.3) 8,730.83 million Baht for the management of Project Management and Engineering Consultant (PMEC) and Project Supervision Consultant (PSC) for 5 years
1.4) 4,607.0445 million Baht to support the sustainable water management and flood prevention systems
2. Approved the result of the bidding process where the following four companies/consortiums were selected for the design and construction of the country’s long term flood prevention and comprehensive water management system: ITD-POWERCHINA JV, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Loxley-AGT Joint Venture, and Summit SUT Joint Venture. The total budget is 284,754,778,080 Baht. The successful bidders must implement the projects in accordance with the agreement made during the negotiation with the Selection Committee on June 11-14, 2013, and strictly with the TOR.
3. Agreed with Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation’s proposal to extend drought mitigation period for the year 2013 as earlier approved by the cabinet on February 27, 2013 (for the period, February 15 - May 15, 2013). The extension started on May 16, 2013 and will end on July 31, 2013.
Following the suggestion from Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, the Cabinet:
1. Agreed with the mobilization framework for national reconstruction and future development, which are comprised of 4 work plans: 1) a plan for agricultural development and biological resources management; 2. A plan for the development of eastern region to support economic expansion; 3. A plan for human resource development; and 4. A plan for action researches for Thailand’s future development. Budget ceiling of 10,000 million Baht for the implementation of the framework will be stipulated under the Royal Decree Authorizing the Ministry of Finance to Raise and Administer Loans for Water Resource Management and Future Development, B.E. 2555, based on the Cabinet’s resolution made on February 28, 2012.
2. Agreed with the establishment of a committee to consider detail and budget proposals under the mobilization framework for national reconstruction and future development with Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as chair; and Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance, Director General of Fiscal Policy Office, Director General of Public Debt Management Office and Director General of the Budget Bureau as committee members. The Secretary General of Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board is to be a member and the secretary to the committee.
3. Agreed with the establishment of a supervising committee to administer, supervise, and follow up on the implementation of each work plan under the mobilization framework for national reconstruction and future development with Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as chair; and Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance, Director General of Fiscal Policy Office, Director General of Public Debt Management Office and Director General of the Budget Bureau, representative of Federation of Thai Industries, representative of Thai Chamber of Commerce and representative of Thai Bankers Association as committee members. Secretary General of Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board is to be a member and the secretary to the committee.
The Cabinet acknowledged tightening measures for the control and prevention of dengue fever epidemic of 2013 following the suggestion of Ministry of Public Health.
Gist
Ministry of Public Health reported that the dengue fever epidemic was currently on the rise as the number of patients had kept increasing above the average rate. Ministry of Public Health and other government agencies and ministries had been intensively implementing measures to prevent and control the disease following the Cabinet’s resolution made on March 12, 2013. However, the dengue fever situation was still severely persistent. During the epidemic period of June and August, in particular, the numbers of 120,000 - 150,000 patients and 140-200 deaths had been predicted. Therefore, all ministries and government agencies were strongly requested to implement tightening measures on the dengue fever situation according to the context of their work until the month of August.
Following the suggestions from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet:
1. Agreed with Implementation of UNSC’s resolution (#2101/2013) on Cote d’Ivoire as abided by the country’s obligation to the United Nations, and in accordance with the law of Thailand.
2. Assigned concerned agencies to proceed and to report the result of implementation on this matter to Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to further report to the United Nations.
Gist
1. On April 25, 2013, UNSC ratified the 2101/2013 resolution on the extension of implementation on measures respecting Cote d’Ivoire to April 30, 2014, in order to promote security and peacemaking within the region.
2. Implementation of UNSC’s resolution (#2101/2013) on Cote d’Ivoire is an obligation of Thailand as a UN member without any implication to section 190 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since at present there has not been any existing law completely appertaining the implementation of the aforementioned UNSC’s resolution, some concerned agencies may not be able to proceed. Therefore, Cabinet’s approval is, therefore, needed to legitimize the implementation of the aforementioned UNSC’s resolution within the framework of Thai law.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) Jun 18, 2013--