The Merger Guidelines for the Small Local Administrative Organizations for Disposing Wastes in Phitsanulok Province

Abstract

Merging the local administrative organizations is an important guideline for revolutionizing the local administration of Thailand. The purpose of this article is to study the processes, obstacles, and results from merging the local administrative organizations and their investment in waste disposal in the case study of Plak Raet Subdistrict Municipality and Bueng Raman Subdistrict Municipality in Bangrakam District in Phitsanulok Province. The secondary data were collected from relevant documents, and the primary data were collected with in-depth interviews.

It was found that the control processes started from the informal conversations between the administrators, the two local councils, and the people in Plak Raet Subdistrict. The findings were as follows. Firstly, there was a need for merging the areas because of the inequality of the public services. Secondly, there was the need for distributing the budgets for equally developing and providing the public services since the sizes of the responsible areas were very different. Thirdly, there was the need for equally developing the areas in Plak Raet Subdistrict because the people in the single subdistrict should be developed or receive the services equally in the terms of infrastructures and economy to reduce differences. Fourthly, there was the need for providing public services in the terms of public health and the environment; for example, the systematic and hygienic waste management in both municipalities as can be found in Plak Raet Subdistrict Municipality since Bueng Raman Subdistrict Municipality did not have the systematic waste management.