IMD infrastructure ranking lags

IMD infrastructure ranking lags

Thailand will have to keep accelerating infrastructure investment to improve the country's competitiveness, said the state's economic think tank.

The secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), Porametee Vimolsiri, said that although Thailand's ranking on the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) world competitiveness index had risen two notches to 28th, the infrastructure investment index ranking for Thailand remained quite low.

Before this year's uptick, Thailand's competitiveness ranking in 2015 dropped to 30th out of 61 countries, down from 29th in 2014 and 27th in 2013.

But, according to the report, Thailand's infrastructure ranking fell by three notches from 46th in 2015 to 49th in 2016.

"For infrastructure development, the government has attempted to speed up the process in order to start construction as soon as possible. These are megaprojects, however, which need a lot of time to materialise," said Mr Porametee.

He said the government already had plans to invest in rail systems such as double tracks and high-speed trains.

Mr Porametee said the state also aimed to expand Don Mueang airport and use U-tapao airport to handle more air traffic in the future. There are also plans to improve major ports nationwide.

He said the IMD report also suggested improvements in the country's medical personnel, energy conservation and language skills, points he said he would bring up at a meeting of the competitiveness committee chaired by the prime minister.

Tevin Vongvanich, chairman of the Thailand Management Association (TMA) and a member of the competitiveness committee, said the improvement in the ranking showed that cooperation between the public and private sectors to boost the competitiveness of the country had succeeded.

He noted that it also showed how infrastructure remains a concern, while adding that the committee had already acknowledged this. Mr Tevin reiterated that investment in these systems would take time.

He said the committee would keep pushing for measures to improve the country's competitiveness, such as supporting investment in research and development, streamlining the process for acquiring a factory licence and improving rail systems.

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