build the plant was ringed with razor wire to prevent opponents of the plan from gaining access to the hearing. The villagers of Pattani's Nong Chik district, who live some eight kilometres from the site, but who will also be affected by the power plant, were excluded from the hearings. The latest hearing, the third and final hearing on the Environment and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) for the 2,000–2,400 megawatt plant, was policed by 400 soldiers, police, and volunteers. Some attendees admitted being transported to the hearing by local village leaders, who also provided them with gifts and food coupons. Songkhla Governor Thamrong Charoenkul chaired the hearing despite questions raised regarding his neutrality. He told the hearing that the project will benefit Thepa residents. "Since Egat has proposed the project, Thepha is now known nationwide. Shouldn't we be proud about that?" he said. Anuchart Palakawongse Na Ayudhya, director of EGAT's Project Environment Division, insisted EGAT's hearings were lawful. "We have organised the public review step by step according to the law," he said. Anuchart said EGAT did not bar anyone from expressing their opinions. "It's impossible to cancel the project. Most Thepha people support it," he said. In August 2016, EGAT declared that construction of the plant would begin by May 2017 at the latest, in order to have it operational by April 2021, in accordance with EGAT's Power Development Plan, 2015. The major hurdle remaining is approval of the plant's EHIA for the power plant and coal transport pier. It must be vetted by the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning Office (ONEP). Two previous submissions of the EHIA were rejected by ONEP as they "needed improvement". In addition, locals claim that only 700 rai (112 hectares) of the 2,962 rai needed for the plant are state-owned. More than 240 families, or 800 people, live on adjacent plots earmarked for the plant. Most of them have refused to relocate. When EGAT hosted a meeting for landowners willing to sell their land, only some 25 persons showed up. EGAT officials maintain that 95 percent of Pak Bang Sub-district residents welcomed the project and that those opposing it were outsiders. On 17 August 2017, an expert committee of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning Office approved the 2,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant's EHIA, removing one of the last hurdles to the plant's construction. The EHIA's approval was met with