Kittiratt Na Ranong, Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Finance, and Dr. Chatchart Sittipan, Minister of
Transport, co-chair the opening ceremony for the “Building the Thai
Future for 2020” Road Show at the Pattaya Exhibition And Convention
Hall.
Phasakorn Channgam
Chonburi residents learned about the government’s 2.2 trillion
baht infrastructure-development proposal at the “Thailand 2020 Road
Show” in Pattaya.
Finance Minister Kittiratt Na Ranong and Transport Minister Chatchart
Sittipan opened the lavish sales pitch for the Pheu Thai Party
off-budget spending plan Oct. 15 at the Peach Convention Center in
Jomtien Beach. All the area’s top political leaders also attended and
organizers estimated 30,000 people attended over the three days.
Kittiratt explained the infrastructure plans while Chatchart spoke on
ideas for an integrated transport system that, he claimed, will equally
bring prosperity to all parts of the country. Chatchart’s speech,
“Eastern Region: The Center of Industry, Investment and Tourism” focused
on benefits to the Eastern Seaboard.
“The 2 trillion baht plan is focused on developing the eastern region,
since this area is considered the main money-making region for industry,
tourism, agriculture and others industries,” Chatchart said. “In the
past, there has been low investment, particularly in transport and
transit. This is evident from the statistics of individuals travelling
to the eastern region by car - about 84 percent - and by passenger
buses, 16 percent. Transport is in its crisis.”
The Thailand 2020 Road Show offered multimedia
information on the infrastructure projects, particularly those involving
logistics. Many of these revolve around Laem Chabang Port, including
high-speed trains, double-tracked freight railways and pier expansions
aimed at better connecting Thailand to neighbors for the ASEAN Economic
Community in 2015.
The exhibit was split into nine zones, offering justifications for the
enormous spending, comparisons of transportation systems with
neighboring countries, freight trucking, railroads, lifestyle changes
brought about by better transport, the impact on the eastern region,
high-speed passenger trains, model cities and a focus on Thailand’s
south.
The spending bill remains moribund in the legislature, due mostly to
objections from the Democratic Party-led opposition, which asserts that
not only are Pheu Thai’s spending priorities wrong, but that the
government is trying to finance its pork-barrel, vote-influencing
projects illegally by excluding them from the normal budget process.
Nearly half of the money to be spent over the
program’s seven years will go toward rail and mass-transit projects,
while education and public health - areas where international surveys
show Thailand ranks worst in Southeast Asia - get nearly nothing.
Responding to concerns about the huge expense of the spending plan - a
sum equal to Thailand’s entire budget for 2013 - Kittiratt noted that
Thailand has now repaid all the loans it borrowed to dig out of the 1997
financial crisis.
While the infrastructure program will take another half-century to pay
off, the minister said, “When those 50 years have passed, Thailand will
have countless assets that will be durable for decades.”
Chatchart agreed, saying off-budget financing is crucial to success.
“Borrowing 2 trillion baht is a project for the future and certainly
will produce results within seven years,” Chatchart said. “If we did
this through the normal budgeting process, development will be too slow
and Thailand will have to bear heavier expenses in the future due to
interest and opportunities lost.”
Conveniently, none of the debt amassed by the Yingluck Shinawatra-led
government under the plan would have to be paid for another 10 years,
likely well after the current government vacates office.
The National News Bureau of Thailand contributed to this report.
