Eco-cars lead in Bt90-bn BOI approvals
Play
Investments part of drive to make Thailand output hub for Asean
The Board of Investment (BOI), headed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, yesterday approved 18 new projects and the revision of two others, with a combined value of Bt89.7 billion.
Bt52.64 billion of the approval value is for investment in the second phase of the eco-car programme.
The eco-car approvals include Ford Motors (Thailand)’s Bt18.18-billion phase-two project for the annual production of 180,000 cars; General Motors (Thailand)’s Bt13.19-billion project for 158,000 units annually; and Nissan Motors (Thailand)’s project, worth Bt6.86 billion.
Also approved were Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand)’s Bt4.9-billion new eco-car project, and its revised phase-one and phase-two projects worth Bt7.7 billion combined, plus the revised project of Toyota Motors (Thailand), worth Bt1.9 billion.
These investment projects form part of the drive to make Thailand the Asean hub for eco-car manufacturing by targeting the production of 2 million units in 2017, said BOI secretary-general Udom Wongviwatchai.
The other 12 projects approved by the BOI are in the alternative power plant, steel manufacturing, petrochemicals and plastics sectors, he said.
Meanwhile, the board also approved in principle the six-year master plan for the BOI’s new investment policy from 2015-2021, although the details need to be revised by focusing on industries that require investment promotion in line with the country’s long-term economic strategy, said Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, who is also a director of the BoI.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises are one of the business sectors for which that the board has to provide more detail in the new investment policy.
“It is not only a matter of tax incentives [for SMEs], as there needs to be a focus on how to get bank loans to support businesses for the long term,” he said.
Following yesterday’s approvals, the board has now given the nod to projects worth Bt458.59 billion out of the Bt700 billion-worth of projects awaiting approval since June.
This is the BoI’s fourth meeting since the National Council for Peace and Order appointed a new board in July.
Udom said he believed the BOI would at its next two or three meetings tackle those projects still awaiting approval, and that Bt700 billion of investment approvals overall would be achieved by year-end.
From January to August, 886 projects worth Bt416.5 billion were submitted to the BOI for investment incentives, down 27.7 per cent and 38.2 per cent respectively from the same period last year.
However, the picture is better than in the first seven months of the year, when new applications dropped 30.3 per cent in terms of projects and 41.4 per cent in value, year on year, he said.
The top five industries seeking tax privileges from the BOI in the first eight months were metals/machinery/logistics (181 projects with an investment value of Bt190.6 billion), services and infrastructure (260 projects worth Bt108 billion), chemicals/paper/plastics (93 projects valued at Bt45.1 billion), and the agriculture industry (135 projects with an investment value of Bt28.4 billion).
Ford Motor said in a statement yesterday the company is delighted with official approval from the Board of Investment to participate in Phase 2 of the EcoCar Policy.
The company’s proposed plan includes an additional investment in Thailand of approximately US$606 million (Bt 18 billion), an annual capacity of 180,000 units and the production of a localized engine.
