The cabinet on Wednesday approved a royal decree to expropriate 850 rai of land in 20 tambons (subdistricts) in three provinces and one district in Bangkok for construction of the 220-km high-speed railway linking Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-tapao airports.
According to government spokesman Buddhipongse Punnakanta, studies by consultants hired by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have proposed that the government needs to expropriate land for the high-speed rail development in Lat Krabang district of Bangkok and 20 tambons in Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Rayong, including a combined 850 rai and 245 buildings.
Related agencies such as the Finance, Interior and Transport ministries were assigned to conduct details of the land expropriation, as well as estimate expropriation costs.
The high-speed railway linking the three major airports is one of the most vital infrastructure projects to serve the government's much-touted Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme.
The EEC spans the three eastern provinces of Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Rayong.
The project won the cabinet's approval on March 27, 2018 under the public-private partnership programme with a 50-year concession under which the government will invest in land expropriation while the private sector invests in civil works, trains and the signalling system.
The railway involves extending Bangkok's present Airport Rail Link (ARL), which runs to Suvarnabhumi in Samut Prakan, to connect to Don Mueang in Bangkok and U-tapao in Rayong. The entire route will be approximately 220km long and reach a maximum speed of 250kph.
The route comprises nine high-speed stations: Don Mueang, Bang Sue, Makkasan, Suvarnabhumi, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Sri Racha, Pattaya and U-tapao.
It will take approximately 45 minutes to transport passengers from Bangkok to U-tapao, with a fare of 330 baht.
Actual expropriation will be complete by the end of next year, with construction taking five years.
The government announced on May 24 the details of the terms of reference for the 224.54-billion-baht project to link the three airports. The winning bidder is expected to be announced soon.
In related news, the cabinet also approved in principle allocating 19.09 billion baht to upgrade R&D in the EEC.
The programme comprises a prototype biorefinery in the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECI) worth a combined 3.41 billion baht, the Synchrotron radiation facility valued at 9.22 billion baht and R&D spending on food, biotechnology, digital, logistics and energy worth 6.46 billion baht.
The first two projects will run from 2020 to 2026, while the final spending scheme will be implemented during 2020-24.
The cabinet also approved the state-owned Export-Import Bank of Thailand's plan to offer insurance coverage against political risk for Thai overseas investment, and in principle three projects worth 16 billion baht for water management in Chaiyaphum, Ayutthaya and Phitsanulok.