The government has approved the regional development plan worth a combined 94.4 billion baht.
Of the total budget, 66.5 billion baht is allotted to develop six regions comprising the central, northeast, north, south, eastern and three southernmost provinces, with funding from the fiscal 2020 budget. The remaining 27.9 billion baht is to be allocated to provincial cluster development between fiscal 2018 and 2025.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on Wednesday the regional development plan will be instrumental to Thailand's economy.
The priority regional development projects to be implemented in 2020 include the Northern Economic Corridor (NEC) and Northeast Economic Corridor (NEEC), which were approved yesterday by the meeting of the regional development committee and a provincial policy and cluster committee chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The committee also approved the action strategy of the five-year master development plan (2018-2022) for the six regions.
Thosaporn Sirisamphand, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said the NEC will focus on bio-economy development, tourism and service development, as well as logistics to serve the Greater Mekong Subregion.
The NEC is expected to generate economic value for the northern region of 753 billion baht in 2025, up from 689 billion in 2019.
Revenue from tourism in the northern region is expected to grow by 12% a year between 2019-2025, up from 159 billion baht in 2016.
Meanwhile, the NEEC will concentrate on tourism development along the Mekong River, bio-economy development, and rail and aviation development.
The NEEC aims to raise economic values in the Northeast to 1.08 trillion baht in 2025, up from 979 billion in 2019.