Thai prime minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has said plans to develop a deepsea port at Pak Bara are back on.
Pak Bara is on Thailand’s Andaman coast, with plans envisaging a port built in Satun and connecting via a land bridge to Songkhla on the Gulf of Thailand coast.
The controversial port project was delayed while full environmental and social impact assessments were carried out, IHS Maritime was previously told.
That now seems to be forgotten as Pak Bara was mentioned by Gen Prayut as one of the mega-projects the government has undertaken in his weekly broadcast on 17 April.
The other two port projects mentioned by the prime minister are Seaport ‘A’ development project and Laem Chabang Seaport project. Neither was elaborated.
Pak Bara is highly controversial as local fishing and agricultural communities fear the expansion of the port will disrupt their livelihoods. Non-governmental organisations are active on the subject and are well supported.
Gen Prayut, whose government is pushing for the development, acknowledged this.
“I ask that conflicts in this area be abated,” he said in his 17 April address.
“The government will help those affected by this project. This port will act as Thailand’s gateway to the Andaman Sea linking Europe, the Middle East, and Africa,” he added, without detailing what aid will be made available.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
