By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER SRETTHA Thavisin today (Jan.22) looked unperturbed by sustained criticism over the cost-effectiveness of the Land Bridge project in the southern region and pledged to go ahead with it.
Prior to a two-day roving cabinet meeting in Ranong, the prime minister reconfirmed the Pheu Thai-led government’s scheme to carry out the Land Bridge project, estimated to cost up to one trillion baht in investment capital, prompting opposition MPs and others to express fear that this megaproject would run far short of being cost-effective.
The prime minister and his members of cabinet were scheduled to visit certain areas in Ranong where part of the much-heralded Land Bridge project is designed to be built whilst other parts are designed to cover coastal districts of the adjacent Surat Thani and Nakhon Sri Thammarat apart from those of Chumphon.
The Land Bridge project is designed to connect two seas – the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand – between Ranong and Chumporn to accommodate seagoing mercantile ships whilst a six-lane motorway and dual-track railways are designed to link the southern coastal provinces with the western and central regions of the country.
“Ranong will definitely play a significant role in Thailand’s major economic recovery, given the Land Bridge project which will unprecedentedly generate jobs and income to the local people,” the prime minister commented.
Move Forward MP Surachet Praveenwongwut has earlier cast doubt that the Land Bridge project would be cost-effective because, he said, cargo ships would pay more operating costs at Ranong or Chumporn than at the Malacca Strait where they currently sail through due to the unloading and reloading of cargoes to be transported by land to and from either side of the planned coastal terminals.
Though a widely-used maritime transport route between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean through Singapore takes a relatively long period of time, the Thai Land Bridge project would not save so much time for those cargo ships either whilst the latter’s planned convenience could probably be problematic, according to the opposition lawmaker.
CAPTION:
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin talking about the Land Bridge project in Ranong today, Jan. 22, 2024. Top photo: Thai Rath, Front Page photo: Matichon
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