InfoQuest, (February 24, 2020) -- Mr. Saksayam Chidchob, Minister of the Ministry of Transport, said in a speech titled "promoting economic development through infrastructure" that Thailand has an advantageous geographical location and is located in the center of ASEAN region, but it didn't conduct research and planning on infrastructure construction before, and thereby lost the good opportunities for infrastructure investment and development.
Now the Ministry of Transport has worked out various plans to invest and develop transport infrastructure in order to facilitate convenient transportation.
The Ministry of Transport invests transport infrastructure construction in various regions in order to ensure its wide coverage nationwide and at the same time makes sure that the construction will not overlap with existing projects; meanwhile, it will accelerate the solution of problems faced by the projects under construction, reduce their impact on traffic, and ensure their on-time delivery.
At present, some transport investment projects, especially the double-track railways and high-speed railway projects invested by the Chinese government, may be delayed because the Chinese side cannot come to Thailand for negotiation due to the outbreak of COVID-19. After the end of the COVID-19, the Ministry of Transport will speed up the construction process.
The EEC investment project, the Thai government's first special economic zone for implementation of investment, can promote Thailand's economic growth and make Thailand a regional leader in attracting investment. The project will also promote the development of sectors that will create added value for the Thai economy such as technology, energy, public health, digitization and education to enhance Thailand's economic potential and competitiveness.
As the representative of government agencies, the Ministry of Transport believes the budget for the fiscal year 2020 will be allocated within March, when various projects prepared by the government will be implemented to help boost and stimulate Thailand's economic growth. The Thai economy is subject to external risks and uncertainties at present, and the Thai government has to seek opportunities to move the country forward and promote sustained and strong economic growth.
"We are in the center of the ASEAN region, but we didn't focus on development and investment in the past. If we do nothing, we will be backward. We were once one of the Tiger Cub Economies before, but not now. Though Thailand is subject to a lot of external uncertainties now, the government must accelerate investment to promote country development, improve competitiveness, build confidence for investors and seize development opportunities." Mr. Saksayam said.
Mr. Sonthirat Sonthisajirawong, Minister of the Ministry of Energy of Thailand, said in a speech titled "exploring Thailand's energy future" that the Ministry of Energy was ready to implement various plans. In terms of basic economy, it will provide living allowances for the public, accelerate the construction of community power plants in the first half of 2020, promote the implementation of community projects such as community power stations and agricultural pumping and drought relief projects using the funds from the Energy Conservation and Promotion Fund, adjust the price structure of oil and gas to promote fairness and promote the use of B10 diesel.
The Ministry of Energy plans to promote Thailand to become the Energy Hub (firstly the Power Center and then the LNG Center) in the ASEAN region. Thailand is expected to realize LNG trade in the Q3 of 2020.
In addition, the Ministry of Energy will promote the widespread use of EVs in order to ensure Thailand's position as an ASEAN vehicle manufacturing base and attract more investment from relevant enterprises, especially those engaging in battery production or Energy Storage, as the Ministry also tried to promote Thailand to be an ASEAN battery manufacturing base. In order to promote the widespread use of EVs, the Ministry of Energy will take incentive measures to provide special benefits for EV users in Thailand, such as free access to highways for EV users and exemption of vehicle taxes.
At the same time it develops incentives to encourage investment in the construction of EV charging stations all over the country. The Ministry of Energy deliberated over the measures for expanding the investment on EV charging stations in order to promote the widespread use of EVs, and submitted the incentive measures at the conference today (February 21, 2563).
Mr. Puttipong Punnakanta, Minister of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, said in a speech titled "Thailand 4.0 economy" that it is very important to push Thai labors to master necessary skills (Re-skill) and learn new skills (Up-skill), especially the technologies and skills that are critical at present and in the future, so as to create additional value for enterprises and countries, and thus Thailand's competitiveness will be greatly enhanced and its enterprises can survive.
At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society realized the importance of promoting investment in data center construction in Thailand because this could reduce the data storage cost of domestic enterprises. Now most Thai enterprises use foreign data center servers and spend much on data storage. Thai data centers will improve the safety of data storage of Thai enterprises, and at the same time will provide services for enterprises in the ASEAN region, thereby creating revenue for Thailand. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society will effectively promote the investment in the construction of data centers.
The success of 5G spectrum auction will improve the competitiveness of Thailand because 5G application will bring great changes to Thailand, and especially play an important role in the industry sector in helping industrial enterprises apply related technologies to improve business efficiency. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society hopes that Thailand leads the 5G development in the ASEAN region.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society previously decided to make TOT Public Company Limited (TOT) and CAT Telecom Public Company Limited (CAT) participate in 5G auction, although a few spectrum blocks were acquired through bidding. However, the main goal of the participation is to create opportunities for low-income groups to have access to 5G services. Because compared with 3 major telecom operators in the Thai market, the rate of service fee of state-owned enterprises is not very high and the service profit is low.
At the same time, the 5G development of TOT and CAT will place emphasis on providing services for industrial enterprises, supporting them to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The 5G development of TOT and CAT will help generate new revenue to supplement the two companies' main business. In other words, they now nearly have no revenue from the fixed-line phones their customers use. By that way, state-owned enterprises can compete with large enterprises in the market.
Source: InfoQuest, by Jeerayuth Junsongsakun / Nisarat / Sasithorn, translated by Xinhua Silk Road
Notice: No person, organization and/or company shall disseminate or broadcast the above article on Xinhua Silk Road website without prior permission by Xinhua Silk Road.
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