Municipal upgrades in first quarter of 2020

The number of municipal upgrades is increasing this year, after it was very quiet for several years. There were none at all in 2016 till 2018, and nine in 2019. The following changes have been announced in the first three months of 2020 - and there are still many more forthcoming.

• Ban Krot (เทศบาลเมืองบ้านกรด), Bang Pa-In district, Ayutthaya province, upgraded from subdistrict municipality to town [Gazette], effective March 3
• Pak Phraek (เทศบาลเมืองปากแพรก), Mueang Kanchanaburi district, Kanchanaburi province, upgraded from subdistrict municipality to town [Gazette], effective March 18
• Bang Mae Nang (เทศบาลเมืองบางแม่นาง), Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi province, upgraded from subdistrict administrative organization to town [Gazette], effective March 20
• Huai Nam Khao (เทศบาลตำบลห้วยน้ำขาว), Khlong Thom district, Krabiprovince, upgraded from subdistrict administrative organization to subdistrict municipality [Gazette], effective March 20

New Muban, new municipality

I have neglected the blog for the past half year - kept myself busy with some other projects on Wikidata, but also not much happened with the subdivisions lately as politics was apparently preoccupied with the general election and coronation. Another reason which made it more difficult to keep up with the news is the fact that my automatic search within the Royal Gazette for interesting new announcements strangely fails most of the time, so i fact I did miss one change to report. And as before, the municipal changes from law.moi.go.th are still hardly accessible, the strange routing problem persists for several years already.

The following municipal changes were in discussion, and are now probably awaiting to be officially announced in the Royal Gazette.

• Ban Klang TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลบ้านกลาง), San Pa Tong district, Chiang Mai province, to be renamed to Wiang Tha Kham (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลเวียงท่ากาน). [Meeting 24/2562]
• Kut Wa TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลกุดหว้า), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, to be renamed to Na Khrai TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลนาไคร้) [Meeting 27/2562]
• Bua Khao town (เทศบาลเมืองบัวขาว), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, to be renamed to Kuchinarai town (เทศบาลเมืองกุฉินารายณ์) [Meeting 27/2562]
• Sam Khwai Phueak TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลสามควายเผือก), Mueang Nakhon Pathom district, Nakhon Pathom province, to be upgraded to a town (เทศบาลเมืองสามควายเผือก) [Meeting 27/2562]
• Rua Yai TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลรั้วใหญ่), Mueang Suphanburi district, Suphanburi province, to be upgraded to a subdistrict municipality (เทศบาลตำบลรั้วใหญ่) [Meeting 29/2562]
• Khae Rai TAO (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลแคราย), Krathum Baen district, Samut Sakhon province, to be upgraded to a subdistrict municipality (เทศบาลตำบลแคราย) [Meeting 29/2562]

Additionally, the creation of one new administrative village (Muban) was announced - Mu 20 of Chiang Yuen subdistrict, Mueang Udon Thani district, Udon Thani province was created by splitting of area from Mu 1. The new village also got the same name as Mu 1 - Ban Chiang Yuen (บ้านเชียงยืน) [Gazette]. In a second announcement, the boundaries of Mu 1 and 14 were also adjusted [Gazette]. What is a bit odd at this new village is the fact that Mu 21 was already created in 2016, but the number 20 was not used at that time. I can only suspect that this new village was already planned at that time, but it took another 3 years to settle the boundary details and make the new village official.

Royal Gazette announcement of population numbers 2017

Last Friday, the population numbers for each province were officially announced in the Royal Gazette. The numbers were already online on January 1st on stat.dopa.go.th
 as reported here before, so there shouldn't have been any news about this - but oddly there are some differences. Whereas the total numbers are same, the numbers by nationality (Thai or foreigner) differ. These numbers are a bit hidden on stat.dopa.go.th, as they are only listed with the age pyramid data (see my blog post). For the whole country, the Gazette announcement states that there are 875,814 foreigners, whereas the age pyramid data states there are only 680,549.

The difference is that there two more rows in that statistics - the people who are currently moving, i.e. have unregistered at their old registrar but not yet registered at a new location. These are 157,722 people. The even bigger number are 722,717 who are registered only at the central registrar (ทะเบียนบ้านกลาง), but not at any local one. Thus most of the "missing" foreigners are only centrally registered, and thus don't show up as foreigners in the age statistics. I now have to think a bit how to best encode this fact in my XML files, and of course also clean up the previous years for which I already imported one of the numbers.

New historical sites

The new year started the same way as the last year ended considering the Royal Gazette announcements - both the final one and the first announcements by the Fine Arts Department on historical sites.

 On December 28th, the historical site Wat Arun was announced [Gazette]. However, as it was already announced before in 1949, this time it probably was only a clarification of the extend of the protected site, as the original announcement did not include any map, but was just a listing of 36 site names all over Bangkok.

Map of Damrong Phaetyakhon residence

January 3rd a new site was announced, the residence of Phraya Damrong Phaetyakhon (Huat Wirawaithaya) [in Thai: บ้านพลตรีพระยาดำรงแพทยาคุณ (ฮวด วีระไวทยะ)], a building now used by the Operation Center for Displaced Persons (สำนักงานศูนย์ดำเนินการเกี่ยวกับผู้อพยพ) of the Ministry of Interior. As it is not far from the National Library I guess I'll have a photo opportunity next time I'm in Bangkok - I probably have to visit the National Library in order to get any detailed data on the 1919 and 1929 census, so far did not find any other library to have anything.

License plate graphic for Yala province

Yesterday, the background graphic for the license plates in Yala have been announced in the Royal Gazette. This is apparently the first-ever such graphic for Yala since the first such graphics were announced in 2004, at least I never saw any announcement for this province so far. The only other province which has never been assigned such a colorful background is Mae Hong Son, I can only guess that in these two provinces there was not much interest in the bidding for special license codes, as these colorful backgrounds are only available for these special codes as an additional status symbol.

The graphic shows both the hills at the border to Malaysia and the coastal landscape at the Gulf of Thailand. The two bird-cages to the left refer to the local tradition of songbird contests, the man with a blowpipe to the Negrito tribes who were originally living in the borderland to Malaysia. To the right is a postal box from the southernmost town Betong (เบตง). As it has this reference to Betong, I suspect that the graphical license plate is also used for Betong - the only district in Thailand which has its separate license plate and does not use the provincial license plate.

Though still incomplete, a lot of the graphics of the other provinces can be found in my album of the license plate backgrounds, and I also have compiled a spreadsheet showing which provinces have received a license plate in which year - as I guess most reader won't be able to read the full XML data for these announcements.

Wang Nuea merge officially announced

The merger of Wang Nuea TAO with Wang Nuea municipality I mentioned three weeks ago was officially announced in the Royal Gazette last Friday. The order was signed on October 6, one month after it was discussed in the board to consider draft laws, and will become effective December 1st. Sadly, unlike other announcements on municipal area changes this time no map was included, as the new municipality still doesn't cover the whole subdistrict Wang Nuea.

A second announcement was also published last Friday, which was also in the same board meeting - the rename of the TAO Thung Fon (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลทุ่งฝน) , Udon Thani province, to Kut Kha (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลกุดค้า) [Gazette]. Though there seem to be no upgrade of the TAO to a municipality pending, the change was done to disambiguate the TAO from the neighboring Thung Fon subdistrict municipality (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งฝน). This rename took effect on the day the order was signed by the Minister of Interior, i.e. October 18.

Province governor reshuffle

With the end of the fiscal year, its traditionally also the date on which the province governors get transferred to new provinces, or to other posts within the Ministry of Interior, as well as deputy governors getting promoted to governors and assigned their first province.

The first part of this annual reshuffle has already been announced in the Royal Gazette on September 15, a total of 24 officials being reassigned to new posts. Out of these, there are four governors transferred to other positions within the ministry, 16 governors being transferred to new provinces, and one transferred from a post within the MOI to become province governor - the other three are transfers from and to other posts only. All of the transfers are effective October 1.

Due to lack of time I don't write up the full list here, you can find it either in the Gazette announcement, or translated into XML in my data collection. The second part of the reshuffle, the promotion of deputy governors, isn't published in the Gazette yet, but was already published in the press - I'll add it as soon as I see the announcement. And as usual, sadly the names of those governors who will retire is not listed anywhere, so can only guess them from the posts which get assigned a new name without any transfer of the previous incumbent.

Two Muban renamed

Two administrative villages were renamed yesterday by publishing the announcements in the Royal Gazette.

• Ban Thung Phatthana (บ้านทุ่งพัฒนา), Mae Yen subdistrict, Phan district, Chiang Rai, renamed to Ban Mae Yen Klang (บ้านแม่เย็นกลาง) [Gazette]
• Ban Nong Masang (บ้านหนองมะสัง), Suk Ruethai subdistrict, Huai Khot district, Uthai Thani, renamed to Ban Thung Sali (บ้านทุ่งสาลี) [Gazette]

Both name changes were approved in this years first meeting of the board to consider name changes on April 28 - sadly the agenda or transcript of this meeting isn't available online.

As the announcement were signed by the province governors, the second announcement made me notice that the governor of Uthai Thani had changed recently. On March 4, the governors of Uthai Thani and Samut Sakhon were exchanged with each other [Gazette] outside the normal annual reshuffle usually done in October. But since I didn't notice that exchange till now, my XML were still showing the old assignments.

Residence of Phraya Anuman Rajadhon

As its very quiet in the Royal Gazette regarding the administrative subdivision, I'd like to report the announcement of a new historical monument (เขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน) - the former residence of Phraya Anuman Rajadhon (บ้านพระยาอนุมานราชธน) in Bang Rak district, Bangkok.

Phraya Anuman (1888–1969) was a very notable anthropologist, who researched and wrote a lot about Thai culture, though sadly most of his works were never translated and thus remain behind the language barrier. He worked for the renowned Royal Institute, and even made it to become president of the Siam Society shortly before his death.

Map of the historical site

His residence in Soi 2 of Narathiwat road in Bang Rak district, not far from Chong Nonsi BTS station, has now been registered as a national historical site. The whole plot of the residence, an area of 1076 m² (2 งาน 69 ตารางวา) has been included as can be seen on the map which has been included with the announcement. The map also includes a list of nine numbered locations within the compound, not sure whether these are listed for orientation or whether these are actually notable parts of the monument.

1. บ้านพระยาอนุมานราชธน (Residence)
2. บ้านหลังเล็ก (Side house)
3. อาคารที่พัก (Staff house)
4. ศาลาแปดเหลี่ยม (Octogon pavillion)
5. ห้องน้ำ (Toilet)
6. ซุ้มไม้ระแนง (Pergola)
7. สระน้ำ (Pool)
8. ปั๊มน้ำ (Water pump)
9. รูปแกะสลักสิงห์ (Stone lions)

I have added this new site to the list on the Thai Wikipedia - oddly this was a totally new site, not one of the many sites which were already listed by the Fine Arts Department but not announced officially in the Royal Gazette. Sadly the GIS site of the finearts department no longer allows to link the individual sites anymore - but even on the map this new site isn't listed yet, so this site apparently has no official Fine Arts ID number yet. I have also added an item in Wikidata, which (if all the sites were added someday) would allow to create a GIS map with a relatively simple query like my map of monuments in Bangkok Noi district. And since I also collect the monuments on my XML data files, here's the diff which added this site and the corresponding announcement.

From what the building looks like in Streetview, it seems this will be a difficult target to take a photo for the forthcoming next round of Wiki Loves Monument in September, unless someone knows the present owners. I probably get to that area in my forthcoming next holiday visit in Thailand, so I will at least be able to take a street view photo myself.

Change of area of Muban in Ubon Ratchathani

Today, the Royal Gazette contained an announcement which changes the boundaries of Ban Na Chumchon (บ้านนาชุมชน), Mu 8 of Sai Mun subdistrict, Phibun Mangsahan district, Ubon Ratchathani. The actual boundary change is probably just minor, the announcement doesn't mention the change and just lists the new boundary. What is interesting however is that the announcement refers to the old boundaries by mentioning that the administrative village was established on May 2 2001 - shortly before the Muban creations were published in the Royal Gazette. Thus this village is now one of the very few where I know the date of its creation indirectly. Sadly none of the ministerial orders on the creation of Muban, especially none so old, are available online, those would give a lot more data to add to my XMLs.

Province governor transfer

With the 20th announcement by the military junta of this year, and using the absolute power of article 44 of the interim constitution, on April 4th ten officials were reassigned to new posts effective immediately.

• Sak Somboonto (ศักดิ์ สมบุญโต), province governor in Kanchanaburi, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Natthapat Suwanprateep (ณัฐภัทร สุวรรณประทีป), province governor in Kalasin, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Boonsong Techamaneesathit (บุญส่ง เตชะมณีสถิตย์), province governor in Chiang Rai, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Chockchai Dejamornthan (โชคชัย เดชอมรธัญ), province governor in Phuket, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Surapol Sawaengsak (สุรพล แสวงศักดิ์), province governor in Ratchaburi, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Pasin Komolwit (พศิน โกมลวิชญ์), province governor in Singburi, transferred to a post in the Ministry of Interior.
• Suwit Khamdee (สุวิทย์ คําดี) becoming new province governor of Kalasin.
• Narongsak Osatthanakorn (ณรงศักดิ์ โอสถธนากร) becoming new province governor of Chiang Rai.
• Nopparat Plongthong (นรภัทร ปลอดทอง) becoming new province governor of Phuket.
• Chaiwat Chuenkum (ชัยวัฒน์ ชื่นโกสุม) becoming new province governor of Ratchaburi.

Reporting on this transfer, neither Bangkok Post, Phuket Gazette or The Nation give any reason for these unusual transfers - normally province governors are transferred at the end of the fiscal year on October 1st only. To my knowledge, the transfer to unspecific posts in the Ministry is usually a punitive action for under-performing governors, but since the Prime Minister didn't give any reasons for the transfer nor did the press report anything, this only speculation by myself.

130th National Park

First page of Royal Gazette announcement

While it is very quiet at the Royal Gazette concerning the administrative subdivisions, a lot of new protected areas get designated in the past months. The most notable was announced today, making Khun Sathan National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติขุนสถาน) in Nan and Uttaradit off
icially the 130th national park of Thailand. The park covers an area of 342.49 km² in the southern part of Nan province, containing area from seven subdistricts in Nan and of one subdistrict in Uttaradit.

But as mentioned, it wasn't the only new protected area since the 129th park and several non-hunting areas in January - another three non-hunting areas were officially announced as well recently.

• Omkoi Non-hunting area (เขตห้ามล่าสัตว์ป่าอมก๋อย), Chiang Mai covering 288 km², announced February 2 [Gazette].
• Nam Pat Non-hunting area (เขตห้ามล่าสัตว์ป่าน้ำปาด), Uttaradit covering 169 km², announced February 2 [Gazette].
• Mae Pai Non-hunting area (เขตห้ามล่าสัตว์ป่าแม่ปาย), Mae Hong Son covering 101 km², announced March 13 [Gazette].

All three I cannot find anywhere on the website of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, so the names above are just my guess - the Royal Gazette announcements of national parks, non-hunting areas and wildlife sanctuaries oddly never mention the name for the protected areas.

Muban rename in Trat

Yesterday the name change of an administrative village (Muban) in Trat was announced in the Royal Gazette. Mu 4 of Takang subdistrict, Mueang Trat district changed its name from Ban Noen Sung (บ้านเนินสูง) to Ban Thung Bang Phet (บ้านทุ่งบางเพชร). The change was approved by the board to consider name changes in its 4th meeting of 2016 on December 29th, and forwarded to the province governor the next day with ministerial order มท ๐๒๐๕.๒/๒๓๔๒๓. The announcement was then signed by the province governor on February 10.

New non-hunting areas

The last announcements of 2016 I had processed from the Royal Gazette were about protected areas, and the first of 2017 are again of the same category - another six new non-hunting areas (เขตห้ามล่าสัตว์ป่า) were created by the publication on January 5.

• Khao Phanom Thong (เขาพนมทอง), Phitsanulok, covering 14125 rai of the Lum Nam Wang Thong Fang Sai national forest. [Gazette]]
• Mae Lao-Mae Kok (แม่ลาว-แม่กก), Chiang Rai, covering 8025 rai of the Mae Lao Fang Sai and Mae Kok Fang Khwa national forest. [Gazette]]
• Nong Leng Sai (หนองเล็งทราย), Phayao, covering 8025 rai around the same-named lake. [Gazette]]
• Huai Sak-Mae Kok (ห้วยสัก-แม่กก), Chiang Rai, covering 4003 rai of the Huai Sak and Mae Kok Fang Khwa national forest. [Gazette]]
• Sob Kok (สบกก), Chiang Rai, covering 5550 rai of the Sob Kok Fang Khwa national forest. [Gazette]]
• Mae Pun Noi-Mae Pun Luang-Huai Pong Men (แม่ปูนน้อย-แม่ปูนหลวง-ห้วยโป่งเหม็น), Chiang Rai, covering 5550 rai of the Mae Pun Noi, Mae Pun Luang and Huai Pong Men national forest. [Gazette]]

My main problem - I have no idea what are the official names of these non-hunting areas. The Royal Gazette announcements don't state a name for the protected area, it only names the national forests or the area which is affected. I haven't been able to find any updated list of non-hunting areas on the website of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department either. The latest I have is a spreadsheet which lists all the protected areas, which however dates from 2013. While it included a few non-hunting areas pending their official creation, none of these six was among them. Therefore, I haven't yet added items in WikiData for them, as I don't want to make those guessed names listed above any more public.

Subdistrict boundary definition in Nakhon Phanom

Yesterday, the Royal Gazette carried the first announcement related to the administrative subdivision for quite same time - the re-definition of the boundaries of Na Ngua subdistrict in Ban Phaeng, Nakhon Phanom (Gazette). This announcement modifies or clarifies the boundaries defined in 1997, when the boundaries for all subdistricts in Ban Phaeng were defined (Gazette).

One thing which makes the two boundary definitions more difficult to compare is the fact that the coordinates in the MGRS notation are not in the same geographical datum - while the 1997 announcement used the Indian 1975 datum, the new announcement uses the now most common WGS84 datum. In the map below I added all the boundary points defined in the two announcements, but skipped to try to read and interpret the full boundary description to draw the boundary line itself. Apart from two additional points in the southern boundary to Phon Thong, the main difference is the boundary in the north with Phai Lom subdistrict. Interestingly, the new announcement does not redefine the boundary of that subdistrict, either because it is self-evident that the change affects both, or a second redefinition is still pending its publication.

New Muban in Nakhon Sawan

Somehow I almost missed the announcement of yet another new administrative village last week, this time in Nakhon Sawan province. The Muban became effective with the publication in the Royal Gazette on June 16.

• Mu 6 of Bueng Senat subdistrict, Mueang Nakhon Sawan district, Nakhon Sawan province, split from Mu 2 (Ban San Phing, บ้านสันพิง) and named Ban Khlong Krang (บ้านคลองกร่าง). [Gazette]

NCPO Announcement 29/2016

Today, the 29th announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order of this year (คำสั่งหัวหน้าคณะรักษาความสงบแห่งชาติ ที่ ๒๙/๒๕๕๙) was announced in the Royal Gazette, which by its publication became active law. This announcement deals with the local government administrators and councilors in case of a change in the municipal status. So far, whenever a municipality or a subdistrict administrative organization changes its administrative status, the mayor and the council have to vacate their office and stand for a new election. Especially for the council this is logical, as with the change of status the size of the council changes, thus the previously elected council doesn't fit anymore. Thus, so far usually all the municipal upgrades were done whenever the terms of either the council and/or the mayor ends, and a new election was pending anyway. However, in some cases the time till the next election was quite long, as the Election Commission first has to come up with a new constituency outline matching the new size of the council.

However, since the coup in 2014 there were no elections for the local governments anymore, by announcements 85 and 86 all of the local elections were halted and those mayors and councilors in office were given an indefinite extension of their term by announcement 1/2015. As even for a nation election the schedule is still unsure and depends on the constitutional referendum, those less important local elections certainly have to wait even longer.

I am not sure if this announcement somehow relates with an announcement by the Department of Local Administration from last week titled "แนวทางการแก้ไขปัญหาและผลกระทบจากการปรับโครงสร้างเทศบาล" (way to solve municipal restructure) - which if I understand it correctly suggests that TAO with more than 20 million Baht income should be upgraded to municipalities.

New Muban in Nakhon Phanom and Sakon Nakhon

Announced last week, five Muban were created in Nakhon Phanom effective April 11.

• Mu 11 of Ban Kaeng subdistrict, Na Kae district, Nakhon Phanom province, split from Mu 2 (Ban Kaeng, บ้านแก้ง) and named Ban Kaeng (บ้านแก้ง). [Gazette]
• Mu 14 of Kaen Luang subdistrict, Na Kae district, Nakhon Phanom province, split from Mu 3 (Ban Don Khram, บ้านดอนคราม) and named Ban Don Khram (บ้านดอนคราม). [Gazette]
• Mu 16 of Tha Champa subdistrict, Tha Uthen district, Nakhon Phanom province, split from Mu 7 (Ban Kham Toei, บ้านคำเตย) and named Ban Kham Toei Noi (บ้านคำเตยน้อย). [Gazette]
• Mu 17 of Chaiburi subdistrict, Tha Uthen district, Nakhon Phanom province, split from Mu 9 (Ban Kaeo Pat Pong, บ้านแก้วปัดโป่ง) and named Ban Kaeo Pat Pong (บ้านแก้วปัดโป่ง). [Gazette]
• Mu 11 of Phiman subdistrict, Na Kae district, Nakhon Phanom province, split from Mu 7 (Ban Suk Kasem, บ้านสุขเกษม) and named Ban Suk Kasem (บ้านสุขเกษม). [Gazette]

Another five Muban were created in Sakon Nakhon, these became effective with the publication, thus on June 9.

• Mu 14 of Kham Sa-at subdistrict, Sawang Daen Din district, Sakon Nakhon province, split from Mu 11 (Ban That Sopha, บ้านธาตุโสภา) and named Ban Pluak (บ้านปลวก). [Gazette]
• Mu 27 of Sawang Daen Din subdistrict, Sawang Daen Din district, Sakon Nakhon province, split from Mu 16 (Ban Noi Nong Bua, บ้านน้อยหนองบัว) and named Ban Non Si Thong (บ้านโนนสีทอง). [Gazette]
• Mu 17 of Pho Phaisan subdistrict, Kusuman district, Sakon Nakhon province, split from Mu 7 (Ban Kut Sakoi, บ้านกุดสะกอย) and named Ban Kut Sakoi (บ้านกุดสะกอย). [Gazette]
• Mu 12 of Na Phiang subdistrict, Kusuman district, Sakon Nakhon province, split from Mu 4 (Ban Na Phiang Mai, บ้านนาเพียงใหม่) and named Ban Khok Ang Thong (บ้านโคกอ่างทอง). [Gazette]
• Mu 12 of Na Thong Watthana subdistrict, Phon Na Kaeo district, Sakon Nakhon province, split from Mu 9 (Ban Phon Khae Noi, บ้านโพนแคน้อย) and named Ban Phon Na Kaeo (บ้านโพนนาแก้ว). [Gazette]

And again more new Muban

Another batch of new administrative villages was published yesterday. To be able to report them all here, I am splitting them into three postings - the Muban in Nakhon Phanom and Sakon Nakhon will be reported next week, whereas this time I list those in the other provinces.

• Mu 27 of Mae Salong Nai subdistrict, Mae Fa Luang district, Chaing Rai province, split from Mu 1 (Ban Hin Taek, บ้านหินแตก) and named Ban Hin Dam (บ้านหินคำ). [Gazette]
• Mu 10 of Rim Khong subdistrict, Chiang Khong district, Chaing Rai province, split from Mu 6 (Ban Kio Kan, บ้านกิ่วกาญจน์) and named Ban Kio Doi Luang (บ้านกิ่วดอยหลวง). [Gazette]
• Mu 11 of Si Kham subdistrict, Mae Chan district, Chaing Rai province, split from Mu 9 (Ban Saen Suk, บ้านแสนสุข) and named Ban Rung Charoen (บ้านรุ่งเจริญ). [Gazette]
• Mu 8 of Pho Thong subdistrict, Tha Sala district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, split from Mu 5 (Ban Si Yaek Wat Not, บ้านสี่แยกวัดโหนด) and named Ban Pho Thong (บ้านโพธิ์ทอง). [Gazette]
• Mu 7 of Pa Klang subdistrict, Pua district, Nan province, split from Mu 3 (Ban Khang Ho, บ้านค้างฮ่อ) and named Ban Pa Klang (บ้านป่ากลาง). [Gazette]
• Mu 14 of Phu Kha subdistrict, Pua district, Nan province, split from Mu 8 (Ban Pa Rai, บ้านป่าไร่) and named Ban Mai Phu Kha (บ้านใหม่ภูคา). [Gazette]
• Mu 7 of Nam Pua subdistrict, Wiang Sa district, Nan province, split from Mu 2 (Ban Nam Pua, บ้านน้ำปั้ว) and named Ban Nam Pua Mai (บ้านน้ำปั้วใหม่). [Gazette]
• Mu 22 of Rom Yen subdistrict, Chiang Kham district, Phayao province, split from Mu 13 (Ban Pracha Phakdi, บ้านประชาภักดี) and named Ban Huai Duea Doi Nang (บ้านห้วยเดื่อดอยนาง). [Gazette]
• Mu 12 of Kok Sathon subdistrict, Dan Sai district, Loei province, split from Mu 6 (Ban Thup Kho, บ้านตูบค้อ) and named Ban Thup Kho (บ้านตูบค้อ). [Gazette]
• Mu 11 of Kok Sathon subdistrict, Dan Sai district, Loei province, split from Mu 4 (Ban Mak Khaeng, บ้านหมากแข้ง) and named Ban Man Khao (บ้านหมันขาว). [Gazette]

Interestingly, the Muban created in Chiang Rai are based on the Ministerial Order มท ๐๓๑๐.๑/๓๑๑๓ from March 2012 (sic!), whereas all others are based on the same as the previous Muban creations this year, มท ๐๓๑๐.๑/ว ๗๔๖๕ from December 15 2015. I don't know whether this is a mistake, or it really took the provincial administration in Chiang Rai four years to finalize the order from the Ministry of Interior.

The date at which the Muban creations became effective differs for the provinces.  Those in Nan became effective with the publication in the Royal Gazette, all others at the same date the announcements were signed by the province governor - Chiang Rai on April 11, Nakhon Si Thammarat on April 18, Phayao on April 5 and Loei on April 1.

Three more province with new administrative villages

Yesterday, another three announcements were published in the Royal Gazette to formally create new administrative villages, this time in the provinces Lampang, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani. Again, these are based on the Ministerial Order มท ๐๓๑๐.๑/ว ๗๔๖๕ from December 15. With 44 Muban announced so far, this is the biggest number of new villages since 2007, when a total of 449 villages were created.

• Lampang - 1 Muban [Gazette] effective March 22
  • Mu 10 of Nam Cho subdistrict, Mae Tha district, split from Mu 3 (Ban To, บ้านต๋อ) and named Ban To Kaeo Phatthana (บ้านต๋อแก้วพัฒนา).
• Udon Thani - 6 Muban [Gazette] effective with publication
  • Mu 14 of Tha Li subdistrict, Kumphawapi district, split from Mu 4 (Ban Tha Li, บ้านท่าลี่) and named Ban Tha Li (บ้านท่าลี่).
  • Mu 15 of Kumphawapi subdistrict, Kumphawapi district, split from Mu 5 (Ban Don Kaeo, บ้านดอนแก้ว) and named Ban Don Kaeo (บ้านดอนแก้ว).
  • Mu 12 of Non Thong subdistrict, Ban Phue district, split from Mu 7 (Ban Don Tan, บ้านดอนตาล) and named Ban Don Tan (บ้านดอนตาล).
  • Mu 13 of Non Thong subdistrict, Ban Phue district, split from Mu 8 (Ban Dong Bang, บ้านดงบัง) and named Ban Dong Bang (บ้านดงบัง).
  • Mu 14 of Non Thong subdistrict, Ban Phue district, split from Mu 9 (Ban Na Hai, บ้านนาไฮ) and named Ban Na Hai (บ้านนาไฮ).
  • Mu 15 of Non Thong subdistrict, Ban Phue district, split from Mu 10 (Ban Na Toei, บ้านนาเตย) and named Ban Na Toei (บ้านนาเตย).
• Ubon Rathathani - 5 Muban [Gazette] effective with publication
  • Mu 17 of Sang Tho subdistrict, Khueang Nai district, split from Mu 7 (Ban Don Chiang Tho, บ้านดอนเชียงโท) and named Ban Don Chiang Tho (บ้านดอนเชียงโท).
  • Mu 12 of Song subdistrict, Nam Yuen district, split from Mu 2 (Ban Duan, บ้านดวน) and named Ban Chai Charoen (บ้านชัยเจริญ).
  • Mu 12 of Ban Maet subdistrict, Buntharik district, split from Mu 1 (Ban Hat Sai Khun, บ้านหาดทรายคูณ) and named Ban Don Chot (บ้านดอนโจด).
  • Mu 13 of Kaeng Dom subdistrict, Sawang Wirawong district, split from Mu 2 (Ban Khok Sombun Nai, บ้านโคกสมบูรณ์ใน) and named Ban Non Tao Lek (บ้านโนนเตาเหล็ก).
  • Mu 13 of Sawang subdistrict, Sawang Wirawong district, split from Mu 4 (Ban Phaeng, บ้านแพง) and named Ban Non Sai Ngam (บ้านโนนทรายงาม).

A bit notable is the fact that all 6 Muban in Udon Thani got the same name as the Muban from which they were split off. Checking with the all the 2029 Muban creations published in the Royal Gazette since 2002, this naming scheme was used 361 times so far (17.7%). The suffix "Kaeo Phatthana" however was used for the first time.