BANGKOK, 19 April 2013 The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has expressed its worries over the government’s 2-trillion-baht mega project, saying it needs risk assessment and is not being conducted under the democratic principles.
Speaking at a seminar on the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure project, Mr Somchai Jitsuchon, a TDRI research director, said the project is the right answer to the country’s economic growth, especially in the logistics area, where it will help Thai entrepreneurs save capital cost, expand production bases, and distribute wealth to regional areas.
However, Mr Somchai said the project’s risk will have to be seriously assessed. He also expressed his concerns over the project’s loan bill which gives a high degree of autonomy to the management team in providing lending, which, he claimed, is not democratic. Furthermore, he said worthiness of the project and how green the project can be will have to be discussed as well, because it will take up to 50 years before Thailand can clear its debt. As a result, he said Thailand could see an economic chain reaction as the country will not have enough money to spend for its people, society, and innovations, and this will finally lead to an incompetency in the country’s competitiveness.
