The Southern Economic Corridor is cataclysm in the making -- set to scar the Andaman Coast and Gulf of Thailand in one sweep. It will disrupt ecosystems, cripple tourism, and erase local livelihoods in exchange for enriching investors. It must be stopped.
Instead of listening to public concerns, the Pheu Thai–led coalition -- despite its shaky immediate political future -- is pushing a law that would hand the South to foreign investors for 99 years.
The Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) Bill is due in parliament next month. It aims to create a massive land bridge between the Gulf and the Andaman Sea, cutting across Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Ten more provinces are expected to follow.
This one-trillion-baht mega project was born after the Kra Canal proved politically unviable. But the goal is the same: to shorten shipping routes by bypassing the Strait of Malacca.
Logistics experts have warned the cost and time to transfer cargo from one coast to the other will deter shippers. Meanwhile, Singapore's Tuas Port is set to become the world's largest fully automated shipping hub; Thailand's 90-kilometre land bridge can't compete.
Yet the government presses on. Proponents call it development. Critics call it a legal takeover of the South -- its lands, coasts, forests, and seas -- for the benefit of powerful investors, mainly Chinese.
If passed, the SEC bill will override at least 14 existing laws -- those governing land use, the environment, energy, immigration, labour, business licensing, even nuclear power. It will strip environmental protections, fast-track investments, and bypass oversight. Opening the door to nuclear energy with minimal safeguards is dangerous. So is giving polluting industries a free hand.
The bill also lets investors buy land and reclassify it under SEC jurisdiction. Long-term leases of up to 99 years will be granted. Once included in the SEC zone, land will fall under different rules that ignore local rights. This paves the way for a massive land grab, displacing farmers, fishing communities, and small businesses.
Even farmland granted under agrarian reform schemes could be bought up. This isn't development -- it's dispossession.
Forget promises of local jobs. The bill allows SEC to override immigration law, letting investors hire unlimited foreign labour, just like what happened with special economic zone in eastern seaboard.
The SEC will be governed by a powerful "super board" chaired by the prime minister. It will have sweeping authority to rezone land, greenlight infrastructure projects, and even amend laws it sees as investment "obstacles" -- all without consulting locals or conducting proper environmental reviews.
With almost unchecked power to overrule existing local health and environmental law, the environmental toll will be catastrophic.
To start with, the Land Bridge project threatens to devastate marine parks, coral reefs, and Uneso-listed biosphere reserves in Ranong, Phang Nga, and possibly Phuket. Mangrove forests vital to marine life and coastal protection will be polluted. Giant docks and transport infrastructure will scar coastlines.
At risk are Laem Son, Ranong, Surin, and Similan marine parks -- proposed Uneso World Heritage Sites. Ka Per Wetland, a Ramsar site, is not spared. Ranong's 189,000-rai mangrove reserve, one of the world's best preserved, plays a vital role in carbon storage and fish nurseries. It, too, is under threat.
Chemical runoff and silted reefs could reach as far as Phuket. The result? A death sentence for the South's tourism industry.
The irony is sharp. While the government pushes a casino bill to boost tourism, it also backs a project that will destroy the very environment tourists come for.
The damage won't stop at the sea. Agriculture and food security will suffer. Water resources can be redirected for industrial use. Coastal areas once shared by fishing communities will become no-go zones. Waste from factories will poison rivers and seas. Industrial zones will invite toxic infrastructure -- onshore and offshore. The South risks becoming a dumping ground for hazardous waste, with no say from the people who live there.
This isn't progress. It's natural resources plundering. Earlier this month, over 100 grassroots groups gathered in Nakhon Si Thammarat to protest the SEC bill. They said the bill ignores local voices and fast-tracks decisions behind closed doors. Public hearings have been rushed and opaque. Once the bill passes, it will be nearly impossible to reverse.
Thailand stands at a crossroads. We can choose sustainable, community-led development that protects nature and respects local voices. Or we can sell the South to the highest bidder. A country that destroys its natural treasures for short-term profit is a country that forgets where its true wealth lies. We must choose differently.