SURAT THANI: The government is pushing ahead with the plan to develop the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC), an economic and transport infrastructure development project that will provide a better connection between the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea while facilitating more vigorous economic development.
Deputy Transport Minister Manaporn Charoensri confirmed this while exchanging opinions with public and private parties from Surat Thani, Ranong, Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces at a brainstorming session on Thursday in Surat Thani.
All these participants were representatives of organisations leading the economic development in this cluster of southern provinces.
“The government now treats the development in the South as important, as it has a proven capacity to thrive in terms of both economic and tourism development,” said the minister.
The South lies between the Andaman and the Gulf of Thailand and could potentially provide better transport links to Asia via the kingdom if properly developed, Ms Manaporn said.
The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP), which is under the ministry, has drafted a bill on the SEC, which includes the development of a land bridge to connect the two coasts, she added.
Approved by the cabinet on Aug 21, 2018, the SEC concerns economic developments in Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat as well as various transport developments — including a seaport in Ranong, a double-track train system running through these southern provinces, and a tourism development project.
It was previously agreed at a meeting between Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and governors of these southern provinces and other local administrative bodies and civic groups that the designing of a logistics system to better connect the Andaman with the Gulf of Thailand needed to be expedited, said Ms Manaporn.
The land bridge will hugely improve the convenience of transporting cargo between the Indian Ocean and Asia by bypassing the Malacca Strait, she said.
The OTP has conducted a feasibility study on the land bridge project, designed an environmental impact assessment, mapped out a business development model and made recommendations about investors, Ms Manaporn added.