Panel promotes huge transit overhaul plan

Panel promotes huge transit overhaul plan

Land, rail, water, air links to be upgraded

The Transport Ministry has outlined plans to carry out its fundamental infrastructure development project to link land, rail, water and air transport networks within five special economic zones.

Permanent secretary for transport Soithip Traisuth said a panel met yesterday to discuss the project to link transport networks with cargo terminals at six border checkpoints in five special economic zones.

A special economic zone policy committee under the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has proposed the creation of the special economic zones in Tak, Aranyaprathet, Trat, Mukdahan and Songkhla.

At Mae Sot customs checkpoint in Tak bordering Myanmar, a road network leading to the checkpoint will be renovated and expanded. The Tanaosri-Kokarek road, covering a distance of 46.6km will be renovated at a cost of 1.1 billion baht. A section of the road from Tak to Mae Sot, covering a distance of 13.25km and a section of Tak-Mae Sot, with a distance of 25.5km, will be widened to four lanes.

In fiscal 2016 to 2017, a 22.4km road from the second friendship bridge across the Moei River and its road network, at a cost of 2.2 billion baht, will be constructed. A a 25.6km-section of Tak-Mae Sot Road will be extended at the cost of 1.4 billion baht.

The ministry will also build a cargo terminal in Tak, expand runways at the Mae Sot airport to 2,100 metres to accommodate three Boeing 737 aircraft and build a passenger terminal. Construction, costing about 1,067 million baht, will be carried out from this year to 2016.

At Aranyaprathet customs checkpoint in Sa Kaeo bordering Cambodia, a highway, covering a distance of 22km, will be built between 2016 and 2018.

At Khlong Yai customs checkpoint in Trat, a gateway to Cambodia, road and railway networks will be expanded. A multi-purpose port at Khlong Yai will be built to accommodate large fishing trawlers and cargo ships.

At Mukdahan customs checkpoint, a gateway to Laos, a road section of Kalasin-Somdej route will be widened to four lanes at the cost of 760 million baht and a section of Kalasin-Nakhai-Kham Cha-i, covering a distance of 107km, will also be expanded to four lanes at a cost of 5.4 billion baht. A dual-track railway on Ban Phai-Maha Sarakham-Roi Et-Mukdahan-Nakhon Phanom is being studied.

At Sadao and Padang Besar customs checkpoints in Songkhla, a special highway linking Hat Yai and the Malaysian border in Sadao district, with a distance of 64km at the cost of 23.9 billion baht, is being studied. The ministry plans to construct a dual-track railway from Hat Yai to Padang Besar, a deep-sea port project, a port in Songkhla and Betong airport in Yala.

Meanwhile, the NCPO has approved a Transport Ministry proposal to widen five highways on five routes in the Northeast, the East and the South from two to four lanes.

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