His Majesty the King, highly revered by the Thai People, was aware of the suffering this cycle was causing to the people of Nakhon Nayok. He personally came to inspect the area in 1993. He spoke to local people about their problems, inspected the area on foot and by air. He concluded that a water management and irrigation system could solve many of Nakhon Nayok's problems and initiated the Tha Dan Dam project. Construction of the dam commenced in 1999.
The dam was built using the roller compressed concrete (RCC) technique. This involves adding lignite fly ash to the cement mix. This improves the fluidity and workability of the mix while reducing the amount of cement needed, so reducing material costs. The mix is then compacted by rollers to create a very strong concrete with excellent long-term resilience.