The company building a high-speed railway line linking Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao airports has invited experts from various fields to advise it on the best way forward.
Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive of Charoen Pokphand Group and chairman of Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports, said the panel would be tasked with supervising the construction project to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability.
Members of this panel are Prof Suchatvee Suwansawat, rector of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang; Wiwat Salyakamthorn, a renowned agricultural scholar and former deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister who is now president of Agri-Nature Foundation; ML Dispanadda Diskul, CEO of Mae Fah Luang Foundation; Asst Prof Thon Thamrongnawasawat, vice-dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University; Asst Prof Anurat Anantanatorn, a public administration lecturer with Burapha University; Thirin Thanyawatthanakun, president of Chon Buri's Chamber of Commerce; and Torphong Selanon, president of the Thailand Association of The Blind.
Mr Suphachai said that brainstorming by these experts, who come from both the public and private sectors, would create a better understanding of how to make the historic project a success. Such dialogue was desirable in a civil society.
The panel will mainly focus on two aspects of the project: its social sustainability and environmental sustainability. Achieving those two ends would benefit the communities involved as well as the so-called "economic ecosystem", he said.
Prof Suchatvee, meanwhile, said the high-speed rail project would create many more opportunities and jobs for the people along the 220km route.
If it could mirror the success of Japan's bullet trains it would become a source of a national pride to the Thai people as well, he said.