Transport Ministry to spend Bt3 billion in airport development nationwide

The Civil Aviation Department plans to spend three billion baht to construct and develop six Thailand airports nationwide to link transportation routes with other countries in ASEAN, according to Director-General Voradej Harnprasert.
The six airports include Betong Airport in Yala province (Bt1 billion budget to be complete in 2015), Mae Fah Luang-Chiang Rai International Airport (Bt1 billion budget for runway expansion and construction of a new terminal to be finished within three years), Nakhon Ratchasima Airport (Bt400 million for runway expansion of 2,500 meters), Ubon Ratchathani Airport (Bt300 million budget for development to support large aircraft), Udon Thani Airport (Bt270 million to improve its passenger terminal within two years), and Narathiwat Airport.
Voradej said the airport improvements are in accord with the government’s policy to make Thailand a center to connect transport among ASEAN people, while benefits are to be offered as an incentive to attract airlines to use Thailand’s airports.
He said service systems in all airports will also be improved, while passengers will be expected to spend no more than one hour at an airport, from the current almost three hours.
On a related matter, as ASEAN member states reached a multilateral agreement on air transport liberalization, he said all countries are expected to ratify the agreement before the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) takes effect in 2015, despite some problems on the matter in Laos, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
According to Voradej, more than 10 airlines have recently registered with Thailand’s Civil Aviation Department for aviation business operations. The trend continues to rise, he said. Most of them provide charter flights. (MCOT)

 

Think tank warns of surging public debt, overspending

The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) urged the government to reduce the country’s public debt, especially due to the annual Bt200 billion losses incurred from the highly-criticized rice pledging scheme which is set to drag on into 2017.
Somchai Jitsuchon, a leading TDRI economist, said last weekend that investment in infrastructure in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community, water management projects and the new corporate tax structure are some of the factors contributing to escalating public debts in 2013-2017.
He forecasts that Thailand’s economy this year will grow at least 5 percent with inflation at 2.8 percent, while export will be slightly higher than last year at 4.2 percent.
The government should control public spending and adjust some projects he described as being exorbitant while increasing certain taxes such as the land tax, construction tax and value added tax.
Debt per capita will exceed 60 percent if Thailand’s annual economic growth is lower than 6 percent, the TDRI economist said, indicating that successful spending control will result in public debt control.
Somkiat Tangkitvanich, TDRI president, said the Bt300 daily minimum wage has boosted workers’ income, but negatively impacted some small-sized businesses in several industries.
The TDRI proposed that the government announce 2013-2022 as a decade of productivity growth for Thailand’s businesses by boosting labor skills, investment in research and development and launching education reform. (MCOT)

Industrialists tell central bank to intervene in strong Thai baht

The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has called on the Bank of Thailand (BoT) to take action in cooling down the fluctuating and strengthening Thai currency which has severely hurt the private sector.
Jen Namchaisiri and Wallop Witnakorn, FTI vice presidents, said the private sector has felt the pinch from the rapidly appreciating baht - its strongest in the last 17 months.
The BoT should intervene if necessary while the Finance Ministry should speed up investment projects in infrastructure and rail systems, and importing arms and ammunition, they said.
They urged the government to support the private sector in their overseas investment by increasing the outflow cash limits.
BoT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said earlier that the Thai currency has appreciated by 3 percent since the beginning of this year and 5-6 percent since last year, and that the baht movement has been in tandem with regional currencies.
The BoT and FTI are scheduled to meet to thrash out the private sector’s concern on the appreciating Thai baht. (MCOT)