City planners look overseas for ways to improve Thai infrastructure

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Civic planners are looking to infrastructure systems from Japan to the Netherlands as they brainstorm ways to better build out Pattaya in coming years.

More than 100 local, provincial and national city planners met Feb. 6-8 at the Asia Pattaya Hotel to lay out ideas for infrastructure development in five eastern provinces. Engineers used England, Japan, the Netherlands, United States and Wales as examples.

“With the current changes in the world, this seminar is a necessity to brainstorm new ideas for city planning by studying the planning of other countries and using those plans to facilitate and internationalize our cities,” said Worawit Saisuphatpol, deputy director-general of the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning. “This will lead to more efficient and developed cities in the future.”

Worawit Saisuphatpol, deputy director-general of the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning.Worawit Saisuphatpol, deputy director-general of the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning.

The DPT has been the main agency responsible for the planning of Thai cities for the past 40 years. The agency has used the Planning Act of 1974 as its guide to draft and lay infrastructure. However, changes in the economy, environment and weather patterns have forced city engineers to re-examine long-term plans.