Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered a new feasibility study to build a land bridge between the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, seen as a potentially key part of a new major economic development plan.
According to the government, the land bridge could stretch 100 kilometers long and consist of a road and a railway to link up seaports on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. News reports said that the government has already approved the budget that will be allocated to the Ministry of Transport to study the feasibility of building two new deep-sea ports, one for the Andaman Sea and the other for the Gulf of Thailand.
An additional budget has also been approved for a study to construct a double-track railway between Chumphon and Ranong. Such initiatives are part of a broader strategy of the Thai government. In effect, as Thailand’s export-oriented and tourism-reliant economy was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government now wants to boost economic activities by initiating new infrastructure projects.
(Sources: Bangkok Post; The Thaiger)
