According to Thailand's "Nation" and Bloomberg 18**, Thailand's plan is worth 1 trillion baht (equivalent to about 2038 yuan).600 million yuan) for international bidding. The project aims to bypass the Strait of Malacca and drastically reduce shipping times between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
On the same day, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Th**isin and Transport Minister Suriya Juan Groongruangkit told Japanese investors in Tokyo that the profitability of the project was considerable and called on investors to seize the opportunity. Thailand** will also enact supportive laws that will allow investors to start reaping returns in around 24 years.
He said that the Strait of Malacca is becoming increasingly congested, with about 90,000 ships and 70.4 million containers passing through it every year, and is expected to reach its maximum capacity by 2030.
Surya added that the consortium that wins the bid will receive a 50-year concession, adding that the consortium could include shipping companies, logistics operators, port management companies, property developers and property investors.
The Prime Minister of Thailand and the Minister of Transport presented the "Land Bridge" project in Japan.
According to reports, Thai Prime Minister Denta has promoted the project to potential investors from the United States, China and the Middle East, planning to build a deep-water wharf in Chumpon and Ranong, located on the northern tip of the Malay Peninsula and located on the southern side of Thailand, and build 90 kilometers of roads and railways to connect the two terminals, hoping to build Thailand into an important transit hub for the world.
Currently, goods shipped from Japan, China and South Korea to Southeast Asia and the Middle East are transported by mainline ships and then the containers are transferred to feeder ships in the Strait of Malacca.
According to reports, the "Land Bridge" project will be implemented between 2025 and 2040 in four phases. Once the project is commissioned, it can help ships avoid the Strait of Malacca, shorten the sailing time by an average of 4 days, and reduce transportation costs by 15%.
He believes that through the "Land Bridge" project, the western port will receive about 19.4 million containers per year, and the eastern port will receive about 13.8 million containers per year.
In addition, the project will help create 280,000 jobs and boost Thailand's annual economic growth rate to 5.%.5%。
Geographical location of the land bridge Source: "Lianhe Zaobao".
It is worth mentioning that despite the efforts of Thailand** to move forward with the project, Thai civil society and local residents have criticized the project.
Thai Public Television (TPBS) reported that Thai academics, environmentalists and local residents affected by the project recently released a document titled "4 reasons to oppose the Chumphon-Ranong land bridge".
The document criticizes the "land bridge" project as costly but not cost-effective, and that using the land bridge will incur higher costs and take longer than sailing through the Strait of Malacca, as containers need to be unloaded from the ship to the train, and then loaded from the train onto the ship.
The document also pointed out that the geographical location of the "land bridge" was not suitable and had a serious impact on residents and the environment.
Chaichan Chareonsuk, chairman of Thailand's National Shippers Council (TNSC), said that the progress of the project will be hampered by as many as 17 border control legal issues, and if not revised and adjusted, it will have an impact on the implementation of the project, resulting in a waste of time and costs.
Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" reported that because the "multimodal transport" of the land bridge in southern Thailand from sea to land and land to sea involves certain technical difficulties and operating costs, the cost performance that can be brought to enterprises will not be higher than that of the Strait of Malacca.
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