The cabinet has allocated 7 billion baht to clean up the polluted Khlong Saen Saep canal in Bangkok and Chachoengsao provinces over two years.
Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday that most of budget, 6.8 billion baht, went to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. He said 45.5 kilometres of the 72km waterway were in Bangkok and the water in the canal was more polluted in the capital.
The cabinet also ordered the canal rehabilitation project be finished in 2017, instead of the earlier schedule of 2020, in line with an instruction by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Mr Ormsin said.
"The prime minister wants Khlong Saen Saep to be clean and safe because there are 28 passenger boat piers and the canal serves about 100,000 commuters a day," Mr Ormsin said.
Water in the section of Khlong Saen Saep in Chachoengsao was of better quality, with a higher level of dissolved oxygen, and could be used for agriculture. Water quality in the Bangkok section would be improved to the same standard, he said.
Authorities would also build bicycle lanes and improve the landscape on both banks.
Of the 7-billion-baht cleanup budget, the Marine Department would get 75 million baht for surveillance cameras along Khlong Saen Saep, Mr Ormsin said.
A committee headed by Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda would supervise the canal's clean up, he said.