"I perform my duty for the benefit of the country's 63 million people," Thaksin said.

"It's no big deal if there are 100,000 or a million people opposed to the project, as long as the remaining 62 million people think what I have done is good for the country."

Dozens of protesters against the planned 366-km (230-mile) Trans-Thai Malaysia pipeline and 15 police were injured in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai on the eve of Saturday's summit between Thaksin and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad. Police arrested 12 of the estimated 1,000 protesters.

It was the second violent demonstration in the past two years, after 5,000 people attended a similar rally in October 2000 and almost burned a sports stadium to the ground.

Fierce opposition from environmental lobbyists in Thailand, who say the project will pollute their land and destroy fishing grounds, has delayed the project by three years and forced the government to change its proposed route slightly.

Work on the gas separation plant, equally held by Thai state-run oil and gas firm PTT Plc (PTT.BK) and Malaysia's Petronas, was due to start in late 2000 and be fully operational by the second half of this year.

Apisit Rujikeatkamjorn, a board member of the company in charge of the project - Trans Thai-Malaysia (Thailand) Ltd (TTM) - told Reuters in November the construction would begin in February 2003 and operations would start by January 2005.

Energy Minister Pongthep Thepkanjana said yesterday TTM had already signed a preliminary purchase agreement with land owners where the gas separation plant and the pipeline will be located in southern Thailand.

"Everything is going ahead as planned," he said.