Outside a Honda Motor Co. factory on Bangkok¡¯s outskirts, Thai soldiers guide gravel bags lowered from a crane into a canal as guards stationed on the plant¡¯s plastic-lined walls monitor rising floodwaters.
¡°This is our final stand,¡± Pongdej Sriwachirapradit, general manager of Thai Honda Manufacturing Co., told reporters Thursday. ¡°The government needs to show it can protect this last major industrial estate. Foreign investors, especially the Japanese, are watching closely.¡±
Japan¡¯s third-biggest automaker has already seen Thailand¡¯s worst floods in 50 years inundate its auto factory in Ayutthaya Province. Company officials, determined not to let its motorcycle plant in Bangkok¡¯s Lat Krabang Industrial Estate suffer the same fate, used personal ties to secure 200 soldiers to build a levy around the facility, Pongdej said.
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