Government’s promise to finish airport aviation and high speed trains

Chatrudee Theparat

Government’s promise to finish airport aviation and high speed trains projects in four-year term

The government has vowed to speed up the two flagship projects, airport aviation and high speed train, to complete within the four-year term of the government in order to link three airports

Phumtham Wechayachai, deputy prime minister and commerce minister who chaired the Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee, said the committee has authorized EEC Office to speed up the two flagship projects of airport aviation and high speed train to link three airports (Don Mueang-Suvanabhumi-U Tapao airport).

Phumtham Wechayachai

“EEC Office is required to settle a contract amendment between State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and Asia Era One of the high speed train to link the three airports worth 281.94 billion baht by January 2024.”

He said if the government is able to amend the contract by this January, the high speed train to link three airports would be constructed by early 2024 and it is likely to complete by four years. Also, a construction on the 290-billion baht Eastern Aviation City center on U-Tapao airport will begin in early 2024.

The committee also agreed to attract five clusters to pour their investment into EEC between 2024 and 2028 totaling 500 billion baht or 100 billion baht annually, which include medical, digital, electrical vehicles (EVs), and bio-circular-green (BCG) economy. It also agreed to announce new privileges to investors by this December in a bid to drive investment in EEC. Such privileges will be offered in January, 2024.

Mr Chula Sukmanop, secretary-general of the EEC Office, said the agency will issue EEC Office’s announcement on new privileges for investment in special promotion zone in order to boost investment in EEC. The privileges will include both tax and non-tax incentives, special rights for investors, spouses and experts in special promotion zones for EEC long-term visa, land ownership, and condominium.

The agency plans to sign a 25 rai rental land agreement in Eastern Economic Corridor of digital (EECd) for 50 years to India’s CtrIS Datacenter, which plans to build data center worth 4.5 billion baht. The company also plans to transfer technology and training programs on cloud services.