Thailand
Thailand: Smooth ride for EEC town plan
A full draft of the new town plan for the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) sailed through the approval process on Monday of the EEC Policy Committee chaired by the premier.
Monton Sudprasert, director-general of the Public Works and Town & Country Planning Department, said following the endorsement, the draft would be submitted to the cabinet for approval later this month.
Once the draft is approved by the cabinet, his department will later conduct detailed plans for each district.
The planning covers transport and logistics, information technology, residences and landscape, an appropriate environment for manufacturing of target industries, water management, waste treatment, safety measures and accident prevention.
The EEC town plan spans 8.29 million rai of the land covering 30 districts of three provinces: Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao. It is designated for the land development for 20 years between 2017 and 2037 in the EEC.
Under the draft EEC town plan, city development areas will make up 13.23% of the total land (1.09 million rai) in 2037 from 9.86% of the total land in 2017 (817,971 rai), with industrial areas increasing to 5.12% (424,854 rai) from 3.13% (259,769 rai).
Rural areas and farmland have been reduced to 58.51% of the total land (4,850,831 rai) from 66.63% (5,524,574 rai), while the natural resources and environment conservation areas have increased to 20.25% (1,678,753 rai) from 17.31% (1,435,526 rai) in 2017.
“Landowners of 673,747 rai are expected to benefit because land prices will increase or they can develop their own property projects,” he said.
Kanit Sangsubhan, secretary-general of the EEC Office, said a one-stop service centre for the corridor will be introduced later this month.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1725107/smooth-ride-for-eec-town-plan