The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has selected Khlong Ong Ang – Khlong Bang Lamphu to be added in a project of “clearing 10 canals and beautifying their landscapes,” which is part of the “Celebrations on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King’s 6th Cycle Birthday Anniversary 28th July 2024.”

The project aims to bring happiness to the Thai people and improve their living conditions. In the initial stage, it covers 10 pilot areas, namely Bangkok and nine other provinces, and will later expand to cover all 76 provinces nationwide.

Established in 1783 in the reign of King Rama I, Khlong Ong Ang – Khlong Bang Lamphu was a canal route around the old city of Bangkok. This area was an old trading center and community. It has now become a new landmark in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon District.

Both canals have long faced the problems of solid waste, an inadequate drainage system, floods, and wastewater. The BMA, therefore, wants to rehabilitate them and highlight the local identity, as well as creating a higher economic value.

It is preparing to revive the community way of life along the canals and develop this canal route into a tourist attraction. The pathway along the canals and their landscapes will be beautified and improved, together with the electricity system.

In addition, the BMA will announce a ban on catching aquatic animals in this area. It will also check the quality of water in these canals on a continual basis. The objective is also to improve the environment and upgrade the people’s quality of life.

Khlong Ong Ang, in particular, is now recognized at the global level. It won the 2020 Asian Townscape Award for Landscape Improvement Project from the UN-Habitat office in Fukuoka.