The Board of Investment (BoI) has been instructed to accelerate studying tax and non-tax measures to lure investment in planned smart cities.
Prime Minister's Office's Minister Suvit Maesincee said both tax and non-tax incentives are essential if the government wants to promote private investment in the smart cities.
On Sept 6 the cabinet approved a pilot smart city development plan in seven provinces, including Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.
Three other provinces -- Rayong, Chon Buri and Chachoengsao -- have been designated for the Eastern Economic Corridor project.
The government has scheduled smart city development in the seven provinces to be finished next year.
"Investment in smart cities will go mainly to infrastructure on digital technology and big data centres, which are the cornerstone for smart city development," he said.
A smart city is an urban development vision to integrate information and communication technology [ICT] and Internet of Things in a secure fashion to manage a city's assets. A smart city is promoted to use urban informatics and technology to improve the efficiency of services. ICT allows city officials to interact directly with the community and the city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak recently ordered the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, TOT and CAT Telecom to accelerate the joint creation of a big data management system to pool all state agency data into a single hub.
The move will enable the government to more effectively manage the abundant distributed data of state agencies and optimise data utilisation, which will help ensure the success of the country's transformative road map under Thailand 4.0.
Once the state's integrated big data system is fully implemented, corruption is also expected to diminish as the public will be able to monitor information about any project through open data channels.
Mr Somkid said the big data management system will let all state agencies get interesting and important information faster and at a lower cost compared with traditional practices like conducting surveys.
The system will help state agencies create a connected industry ecosystem, helping formulate good economic policy while allowing the private sector to use the data.
Mr Somkid said he proposed to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha that the government hold a special meeting with representatives of all state units in the country to discuss preparations for the system, with progress reviewed every three or six months.