Bids for three SEZ projects next year

Bids for three SEZ projects next year

Plans take shape as investors flag interest

Border pass office at Pu Nam Ron permanent checkpoint in Kanchanaburi. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Border pass office at Pu Nam Ron permanent checkpoint in Kanchanaburi. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Bidding will be staged for the development of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along Thailand's border in Kanchanaburi next year.

Pachara Anantasin, the director-general of the Treasury Department, said yesterday the agency expected to open bidding for the Ban Phu Nam Ron SEZ, covering 3,000 rai in tambon Ban Kao of Muang district next January.

Besides Kanchanaburi, the department will also open bidding for two other SEZ projects at the same time in Mae Sot district of Tak, an eastern province sharing a border with Myanmar, and Nakhon Phanom, a northeastern province opposite Laos, partitioned by the Mekong River.

After the bidding, the construction for all SEZs will be held in the middle of next year.

As for the Ban Phu Nam Ron SEZ, Mr Pracha said the project will be enhanced to link import and export businesses with the Dawei deep-sea port in Myanmar's southeastern region.

In addition, a Bang Yai-Kanchanaburi motorway will be expanded to Ban Phu Nam Ron while rail lines will be stretched to link Kanchanaburi's downtown areas to a border in the SEZ as well.

Mr Pachara said the land will be leased out to a bid winner at 1,200 baht per rai under a 50-year concession.

The rental fee will be waived for the first two years and will be increased by 9% every three years.

A concessionaire is required to pay a lump sum of 20,000 baht in rent.

The contract also stipulates a contractor has to develop the land by putting up structures and purchasing machinery and equipment valued at over 10% of its investment costs in the first or second years.

According to the Kanchanaburi Industrial Council, several major businesses and SMEs have expressed interest in investing in the Ban Phu Nam Ron SEZ. Therefore, the contract also says a concessionaire must allocate designated areas for SME operators.

Commenting on the issue, Sombat Patthanamas, chief of the Ban Phu Nam Ron Customs House, said about 1,300 rai of land worth 701 million baht was also allotted for construction of six state units including an immigration office, a food and drug administration office, and an animal quarantine station at the SEZ.

Mr Sombat said the development of the Ban Phu Nam Ron SEZ aims to increase the export value of consumer goods from the current 300 million baht to several billions baht. As for the Dawei project, Italian-Thai Development Plc is in the process of developing infrastructure as well as electricity and utility systems for an industrial estate at the deep-sea port which will be able to handle vessels weighing up to 5,000 tonnes.

In 2015, the Thai construction giant entered into a concession agreement with the Myanmar government to develop the industrial estate during the first phase of the Dawei SEZ.

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