Thailand Shelves 'Land Bridge' Project – For Now

Thailand's government has announced the temporary shelving of its ambitious 'land bridge' project, envisioned as an alternative trade route to the Strait of Malacca. The trillion-baht megaproject aimed to link two deep-sea ports across the country's southern provinces via a dual-track railway and a six-lane motorway. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas cited unfavorable findings from a government feasibility study, stating that the projected financial returns did not justify the massive capital outlay. As many skeptics had reasoned, the operational requirement to repeatedly load and unload goods could end up taking more time than shipping through the supposedly longer Malacca route. Environmental damage was also a significant concern. The construction of the 90-kilometer transport corridor would entail reclaiming approximately 13,000 rai (around 20.8 square kilometers) of sea area in two ecologically rich provinces: Ranong on the Andaman Coast and Chumphon facing the Gulf of Thailand. This far exceeds the area reclaimed for Thailand's main international deep-sea terminal, Laem Chabang Port, which saw 5,257 rai reclaimed (2,411 during Phase 1 and 2 construction, and 2,846 as part of the unfinished Phase 3 expansion). In place of the land bridge, a downsized infrastructure upgrade will be directed to the area most in need, namely Ranong. The existing Ranong Port will be modernized, and it will have a direct rail connection to the national train network already running through Chumphon. Ranong is seen as having structural advantages as Thailand's logistics gateway to the Indian Ocean. First, Ranong has both strong coastal and inland connectivity, with the nearest distance to the capital Bangkok of any Andaman province, not to mention its close proximity to Myanmar. Second, Ranong is the sole Andaman province to have its port managed by the Port Authority of Thailand, the administrator of key state-owned commercial ports, including Laem Chabang. Phuket, despite being the poster child of the Andaman region and having its own deep-sea port near the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Naval Area Command, is too tourism-oriented and has limited capacity for expansion, in a literal physical sense. Ekniti stressed that the project's shelving incurs no monetary loss, as neither land acquisition nor actual construction had begun. However, the effect on the Thai government's international credibility is mixed, with both positive and negative implications. Domestically, public opposition had intensified in recent months, driven by environmental concerns and fears of excessive foreign capital influx. Many had likely harbored an expectation that the government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul would be stubborn, considering its action-oriented image and the high-profile promotion of the land bridge by successive Thai administrations since 2023. The Anutin government’s ultimate decision to scrap the project, then, could be viewed positively as a responsive move. Some netizens, such as those commenting on the Facebook page of a popular economic blog Longtunman, apparently think along this line. On the other hand, heavily promoting the land bridge to international investors when its viability has always been questionable reflects poorly on Thailand’s credibility. It does not help that other major infrastructure promises have stalled. The high-speed rail linking three airports (U-Tapao, Suvarnabhumi, and Don Mueang), a critical component of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), has not taken shape since the contract was signed in 2019. The long-floated plan to build the Andaman airport in Phang Nga province to relieve congestion in neighboring Phuket remains stuck on paper. An even older proposal suffering the same fate is the one for Phuket’s light rail transit system. To be fair, these projects are prone to unforeseen circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as structural complexities. In the case of Phuket, for instance, even a minor transport infrastructure upgrade could paralyze part of the island, given there is only one main highway. Yet there is a natural tendency to pay selective attention, and execution seems to be all that matters in rating how credible a government is. With the centuries-old idea of digging a canal across the Kra Isthmus resurfacing time and again, the land bridge, as a strategically safer proposal rooted in the same concept, could very well make a return. A successful modernization of Ranong Port will be the vital first step. Information Source: The Diplomat Indonesia