The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) is extending relief measures to help factories nationwide survive the pandemic by exempting them from paying industrial operation fees worth 12 million baht for another six months.
This is the third phase of IEAT's efforts to reduce expenses and help entrepreneurs, who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic.
Up to 11 waivers, including fees for land use and transfer and those concerning paperwork, will be applied from October 2020 to March 2021.
"The government expects the third-phase measures will directly help businesses," said Somchint Pilouk, IEAT's governor.
She said the IEAT will continue to support factories in 60 industrial estates in 16 provinces across the country.
Earlier the IEAT launched two relief packages to help factories, many of which were struggling to deal with financial problems during the outbreak.
In May, the IEAT decided to reduce land maintenance fees and waive or reduce other expenses, including land rents.
Officials launched similar measures in June, including a 10% reduction in land rents for all industries.
"The support provided under all three phases is valued at 321 million baht in total," said Ms Somchint.
The IEAT's relief packages are among measures launched by the Industry Ministry to cope with the impact of the pandemic.
Earlier the Department of Industrial Works (DIW) encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to "capitalise machines" by using their new machinery to back requests for rare loans from commercial banks.
They can use machines as collateral to seek loans from 18 financial institutions taking part in a relief programme for SMEs, overseen by the DIW.
Up to 1,157 entrepreneurs registered more than 6,000 new machines, worth around 100 billion baht, with the DIW in fiscal 2020 (October 2019 to September 2020).
A total of 107 of them are SME operators who bought 2,131 machines. The department said each machine can be used to obtain up to 2 million baht in loans.
Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said this will help SMEs capitalise on machines and change technology at the same time.
Entrepreneurs can gain access to loans and add new technology that will improve production and help them compete, he said.