More Talk on Industrial Park for Chiang Kong

 

CHIANGRAI TIMES – The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand plans to develop four industrial parks along the borders to help promote trade and investment.

The plan supports the East-West Economic Corridor development, which aims to link China’s southern provinces with its neighbours in the lower Mekong region, deputy governor Verapong Chaiperm said at the BoI Fair yesterday.

In northern Thailand, IEAT is seeking a strategic partnership with the private sector for the development of the Chiang Kong industrial estate near the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai. This project would focus mainly on agriculture, medicine, electronics and logistic services.

Construction will begin this year and the new estates should be ready to begin operation within 2015, when the Asean Economic Community is formed.

The potential developers and operators of each project may be the IEAT itself or its partnerships with the private sector.

The first industrial estate will likely be in Ban Phu Nam Ron in Kanchanaburi province, which would link with Burma’s Dawei industrial estate project, said Mr Verapong.

He added the feasibility study of the project will be conducted soon.

“This project will serve as a logistic and service centre for the Dawei project,” said Mr Verapong.

The design phase of this project, to be located in a degraded forest, has already been completed.

The project aims to link China’s southern cities with Southeast Asia.

In the Northeast, the Khon Kaen governor has sought to build an industrial estate there, with the feasibility study being conducted by Khon Kaen University. The project, aimed at linking trade between Thailand and Indochina, was preliminarily planned to be an eco-friendly industrial estate.

Another potential project would be in Tak province’s Mae Sot district, primarily to cater to the textile and garment industry.

“The project will serve labour-intensive sectors and is expected to begin operation within 2015,” said Mr Verapong.

Payungsak Chartsutthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said this is the right time to start developing these projects because infrastructure such as highways, electricity and telecommunication is nearly completed.