Strong government support for investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor is adversely impacting other industrial zones outside the EEC, investors say.
Thavich Taychanavakul, a managing director of Thai Industrial Estate Corporation, which run the high-tech industrial estate in Ayutthaya province, said that while the EEC will create a huge supply chain and regional hubs for several industries, other industrial zones should not be neglected.
"We do not have any new support or promotions, which looks like a double standard favouring the EEC," Mr Thavich said, referring to the new incentives being showered on companies investing in the 30,000 rai across Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.
The EEC area is much smaller than the 164,000 rai scattered across 53 industrial estates nationwide that have helped attract foreign investment to support the economy since the founding of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) in 1972.
IEAT governor Veerapong Chaiperm played down Mr Thavich's comments, saying the government pays attention to and promotes both EEC and non-EEC zones with investment privileges from the Board of Investment (BoI).
Normal incentives include a 50% deduction in personal income tax and an eight-year tax exemption.
But investment privileges in the EEC are distinctly more favourable, providing a 50% cut in corporate income tax for five years and a flat tax rate of 17% for the personal income tax paid by high-ranking executives, experts and researchers who work for companies investing in targeted industries and headquartered in the EEC.
The BoI also offers tax holidays of up to 13 years to support investment in targeted technologies, an increase from the eight-year period for other businesses.
Mr Veerapong said there is a combined 12,000 rai of developed land ready to be purchased by new investors in Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Pathom.
However, those areas lack major infrastructure such as high-speed trains and motorways that could help link non-EEC areas to other supply chains and other export and distribution facilities.
"After being hit by the devastating flood in 2011, not a single rai of developed land in my industrial estate has been sold yet, though the land is about 40% cheaper than land prices in the EEC area," Mr Thavich said, referring to his high-tech industrial estate in Ayutthaya province.
"We asked for an extension of the high-speed train to at least help reduce logistics costs, but the government has not responded to the proposal," he said.