Six southern provinces along Andaman Sea are urged to be in harmony to spur economy.

Report: Chatrudee Theparat

Six southern provinces along Andaman Sea are urged to be in harmony to spur economy.

Thailand’s former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak has called for six southern provinces along Andaman Sea to work together to become one to boost their local economies to grow more than current 500 billion baht annually.

Six provinces comprises of Krabi, Phuket, Phangnga, Trang, Ranong and Satun. Former deputy prime minister and Sang Anakot Thai Party (SATP) chairman, Somkid Jatusripitak recently was in the south to give a speech to local community and also promoted his new political party.

He proposed businessmen and civil society in the six provinces to join hands together to develop the cluster to help increase GDP per capita and generate prosperity to the region. To do so, the six provinces should launch a special economic zone in order to pool their budget to maximize its development projects.

“Investment projects in the special economic zone should receive incentives from the Board of Investment as a way to help draw both domestic and foreign investment in the area,” he said.

Former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak was appointed chairman of Sang Anakot Thai Party.       He gave a speech among the party’s candidates on Thursday 15 in Bangkok.

The development should be focused on three sectors, including smart agriculture, wellness tourism and digital hub. Prince of Songkhla University should play a supporting role in the project because the internationally-recognized university has carried out different kinds of research fields. Its collective knowledge would help turn farm product into high value and strengthened the provinces to become a centre of “food for future” and health-oriented food. And for storage warehouse, it should be located in Chumphon in order to keep fruits such as durian to export to China and Japan.

However,  the project has been delayed because of its limited budget in the past three years.

In addition, Mr Somkid said the medical and wellness tourism shows a high potential in six provinces as well because they are rich with tourism spots. To do so, they should create a connection network in the cluster to share medical benefits from doctors and experts in order to create business value for the whole.

“Tourism industry should be a tool to generate more income to the provinces and narrows income disparity and strengthens business community,” he said.

The Andaman provinces welcomed 18 million foreign travelers as its peak in 2019 and majority of them preferred to go to the beach. To spur tourism value and generate more community income, the provinces should develop their own cultural tourism spots, OTOP village and tourism villages as an alternative for visitors.

“Promoting digital is a must to do to draw “work from anywhere” professionals. To make facilities perfect, affordable fee of Wifi service, 5G network, and relaxed rules are essential to be improved,” he said.

Mr Somkid said infrastructure development should keep more focus on creating connectivity among hotels, tourism spots and the airport in the provinces.

“Monorail in Phuket should be done completely but it has taken a long delay of development because of waiting only a budget support from related state agencies.”

In order to build infrastructure development even faster, therefore, there is no need to wait for the budget support from state agencies, the provincial administration should join hands with the private sector to launch their own optional investment platform they can do to attract foreign investors.