BANGKOK, Oct 14 – Beleaguered Japanese investors have asserted that they will not shift their production bases from Thailand to other countries despite the current heavy flooding, according to Payungsak Chartsutipol, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
Speaking to reporters after meeting the Japanese business community, Mr Payungsak said the FTI assured the investors that the Thai government and the Army were putting every effort into tackling flooding at industrial estates in hard-hit Ayutthaya province.
Representatives of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) attended the meeting.
The FTI chairman said the investors understood the Thai crisis and expressed their intention of weathering the crisis with Thailand.
Mr Payungsak said that the Japanese entrepreneurs have a rehabilitation plan in place for the Rojana Industrial estate.
When the floods recede below the earthen flood barricades, they will hire four major contractors to pump out the floodwaters.
After the depth of the flood water drops to one metre, they will ask soldiers to move out computer data bases stored on the second storeys of their plants.
Over the long term, they will build concrete flood walls which can be built higher and stronger than earthen embankment, the FTI chief said.
Most worrying now is the likely unemployment of up to 100,000 employees in Ayutthaya. Workers face temporary or long-term suspension from work for an estimated three to ten months, depending on the time needed for rehabilitation of each factory.
Outsourcing firms, which provide about 30 per cent of all employees are concern because they work on short term contracts.
Meanwhile, FTI has prepared to provide temporary offices to replace flood-affected offices in the industrial estates.
JETRO Bangkok President Setsuo Iuchi affirmed that Japan has no plan to move its production base from Thailand as it is a long-term Japanese production base and business ally.
Not all damage can be assessed at the moment, but it will be done after the situation returns to normal.
Japanese entrepreneurs want consistent information in English to be distributed by the Board of Investment or Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand. Currently, information on the water situation is quite confusing.
The investor community hopes the floods will recede soon, so they can survey damage and begin rehabilitation, Mr Payungsak said.
