Pheu Thai gets ready for House debate

All members of the party would be briefed about the necessity of the borrowing, to enhance Thailand's infrastructure and competitiveness, according to a source at the party.

"The party members then can explain the reasons to the public in their constituencies," he said.

The borrowing bill is slated for House debate during March 28-29.

According to the source, the party will also set up a war room to monitor the debate, under the supervision of key strategists like Phumtham Wechayachai, the party's secretary general, as well as Prommin Lertsuridej and Chaturon Chaisang.

During the debate, PM's Office Minister Varathep Rattanakorn will represent the government in controlling the game. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong and Transport Minister Chadchart Sitthipunt will be the key men in the debate. 

On her Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Y.Shinawatra?fref=ts), there was a post today, explaining that the Bt2 trillion investment will strengthen the regional logistics network. The prime minister said that Thailand has no investment in mega projects for a number of years, resulting in low competitiveness against other countries. The investment will also cash in on the regional connectivity, whereby Thailand will be the centre. She also noted that the investment will establish a linkage of rail, road and water transport as well as a linkage of provinces, which should increase the national tourism income. On economic return, while the country's logistics cost will drop by 2 percentage point, the gross domestic product will expand by 1 percentage point a year during the investment period. The investment will create about 500,000 jobs.