A panel will be set up to promote "better understanding" among local people about the proposed Pak Bara deep-sea port that the military government is pushing in Satun province.
Officials from agencies in Bangkok and Satun responsible for the project would form a panel to talk to people about its benefits at the site over the next six months, said Soithip Traisuth, the permanent secretary of the Transport Ministry official.
The port project in Langu district of the southern province is part of the infrastructure development programme of the new government led by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. Its main benefit would be as a new outlet for Thai exports on the Andaman coast.
The pier at Pak Bara is now used to ferry tourists to Tarutao National Marine Park and for fishing trawlers to unload their catch from the Andaman Sea.
However, local fishermen, tourism businesses and environmentalists strongly oppose the 17.6-billion-baht project. They point out that the construction site occupies part of the Petra National Marine Park. Pak Bara currently is the main pier for tourists visiting marine national parks in the province including the popular Tarutao.
Plans for a deep-sea port at Pak Bara first surfaced in 1997 but successive governments failed to follow through. Local residents, aware that if a military government wants to do something it probably will get done, in recent weeks have stepped up their opposition to the project.
The government hopes to lure industries to the area near the port which would connect with another deep-sea port to be built in Songkhla province, and with other parts of Thailand by rail.
However, Transport Minister Prajin Juntong acknowledged on Saturday that Pak Bara needed additional study and more effort should be made to explain its merits to people in the area.
Its environmental impact assessment has been approved but the project still needs local approval.
Marine Department director-general Chula Sukmanop expected talks with local people would take some time.
"The local people do not oppose the project. They are concerned about what will come after the port and railway such as the scale of an industrial estate. They need clarity on this issue," he said at a workshop on waterway improvement on Saturday.
Somboon Khamhang, an environmental activist in Satun, said in September that the project would bring an end to the livelihood of coastal fishermen and only appease investors.
The Andaman Oraganisation for Participatory Restoration of Natural Resource has predicted that environmental damage would result after the port starts operating.
Construction of the port is planned to start in 2016 or perhaps a year later, according to Mr Chula.