Pak Bara still waiting for approval

The plan is for Pak Bara to have overland links to Songkhla on Thailand’s Gulf coast where an second port is to be built. This land bridge, as it has been called, is seen as a key way to boost Thailand’s economy.

The timeline though is now likely to be longer than expected despite an initial flurry of enthusiasm when the military government took over in May and was felt to be capable of pushing through reforms.

“What we are planning to do is an SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment),” Dr Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning in the Ministry of Transport told Port Strategy.

A request for a budget for the SEA has been made, Dr Sukmanop said.

An SEA would not focus on a specific piece of infrastructure but the whole area.

This would take one year with an Environmental Health Impact Assessment being done post that, he said. This is being done to allay local fears that the project will bring damaging levels of pollution especially to fishermen and farmers.

“People in the area are anxious,” said Dr Sukmanop.