Remote border surveillance system proposed for Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo

The armed forces has proposed an automated border surveillance system in Sa Kaeo and Chanthaburi provinces, where conventional border fences cannot be built because of the terrain, said its spokesman, Major General Withai Laithomya.

The areas are under the Burapha Task Force and the Chanthaburi-Trat Border Defence Command, he said.

In Chanthaburi, where the terrain is mostly flat, the military can build 20-metre-high observation towers where troops can monitor the border. Patrol roads would also be built in the area.

In Sa Kaeo, where dense forests and waterways make it difficult to build fences and towers, the military has proposed installing six-metre-high sensor poles equipped with three surveillance cameras.

The towers and sensor poles would be positioned at 400-metre intervals along the border, with a command unit responsible for monitoring them.

The system would also use fibre-optic cables along the operational and border lines to detect movement, Withai said.

He added that construction of a patrol road and border fence in Pong Nam Ron district of Chanthaburi had entered its second phase.

The project is being carried out under the Hathai Thip Fund. The first phase of the border fence has already been completed.

Under the second phase, 2.6 kilometres of a planned 3.45-kilometre patrol road between border markers 54 and 55 has been completed, with about 250 metres remaining.

Construction of the second-phase border fence along the same 3.45-kilometre stretch is also under way.

Work on the foundations and fence posts has progressed for 1.5 kilometres, while ground beams are being constructed along another 460 metres.