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Political solutions to Chonburi’s problems
The solving of Chonburi’s economic crisis is a major
concern for the new governor. Therefore, he presides over the newly formed
Board of Directors of the Committee of Public and Private Sector.
At 14:00 on November 20th at the provincial seat, Sujarit Pajchimnan,
Governor of Chonburi, presided over the third meeting in 1996. It was,
however, the first meeting he has attended.
The first issues addressed in this meeting were the auditing of the budget
and the appointment of an auditor. The auditor must have qualified
credentials as specified in the Royal Decree on Auditing as specified in the
laws of 2505. The Ministry of Finance said they could provide the auditor.
The conclusions drawn in the recent Committee of Public and Private Sector
were to; 1) establish a bureau to balance the budget and to check the
different working places in Chonburi by the Bank of Thailand. This would be
the first of its kind in Thailand. 2) Address the violation of the use of
electricity between the public and the local electricity generating
authority.
The College of Commerce of Chonburi then presented the problem of the Board
of Investment’s allocation of funds to Chonburi as Investment District 3,
which has caused much influx of factories, but excludes Laem Chabang.
According to the BoI, Laem Chabang is a District 2 area, which is causing
many factories to move from Laem Chabang. This phenomena is also due to
Government Enterprises, such as The Financing Department, Transport, and
other services, which have been damaged and whose workers are now in dire
straits.
At the meeting, members made a decision to try to get the Laem Chabang area
changed to Area 3 status. This area would also control investment for the
whole province (9 districts), except for the city of Chonburi.
Municipalities in Area 3 receive many more special rights than those in Area
1 or Area 2, such as machinery with moving parts receiving tax exemption,
and personal income taxes would be forgiven for 8 years.
The final item on the agenda was presented by the College of Commerce, who
presented a motion for Chonburi to have its own transportation facilities,
which are currently a source of problems. In response, the governor ordered
a committee set up to consider setting up a committee to consider the
problem of transportation. There will be another meeting to consider this on
November 26th.
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