GH Bank ready to fund homes for the aged
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THE GOVERNMENT Housing Bank has reserved Bt10 billion for local and foreign investors interested in building residences for the elderly.
Surachai Danaitangtrakul, chairman of the board of GH Bank, said the move was in response to Thailand’s ageing population.
Japan’s Smart Community Co has expressed an interest in developing care-for-the-aged homes, eyeing Sri Racha in Chon Buri provinces to begin with.
Someno Masamichi, Smart Community president and chief executive officer, said Thailand was one of the potential countries the company was considering to build residences for the elderly.
Someno said he was still studying project details in Thailand, while the company was set to launch an additional 130 units in Chiba, Tokyo this year.
The company has been active in Thailand for years after establishing a sanitary manufacturing operation in Sri Racha. It exports products back to Smart Community in Chiba.
Senior Park Support Co, which operates 10 aged-care communities in Japan, may also be interested in Thailand as it is involved in on-going marketing overseas to attract more customers.
At least four local property developers and investors – LPN, Pruksa, Phrayathai Hospital and TCC Land, the latter owned by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi – are conducting business feasibility studies on building aged-care communities in Thailand.
Surachai said some big Thai investors had visited aged-care communities in Japan, including Smart Community Co, to learn about their business models and management structure.
“Japan has been an ageing society for decades, with 33 million people or 26 per cent of total population [elderly],” he said.
“Thailand is now entering the same trend. The government asked the bank [Government Housing] to prepare residences for aged people.
“The bank will provide loans with special extra lower interest to investors.
“Developers could be joint ventures between locals and foreigners.
“We also may have joint ventures with state bodies like the National Housing Authority to build residences for aged people.”
During a visit to Japan, GH Bank explained that many countries in Southeast Asia faced the increasing burden of an ageing society and that meant aged-cared complexes would become more important.
Operators of such facilities are required to maintain a specific service standard and work closely with many other alliances such as hospitals, local authorities, health-care providers, locals and the relatives of residents.
Smart Community Co, which was founded in 2004, is doing well and could be a model for aged-cared projects in Thailand.
Someno said his community currently served more than 700 members from across Japan as well as from Korea, with 58 per cent of them female.
Aside from medical and healthcare services, the centre offers up to eight selective activities per day for members to encourage them to do activities with other people.
New members are required to pay 1.9 million yen (Bt575,600) as an entry fee and the equivalent of about Bt30,000 a month. People aged 50 and over can stay there.
The centre employs more than 200 locals and has increased the number of jobs in the area 20 per cent.
Yomeiko Yamamoto, 93 and her daughter, 64, decided to leave home and live at Senior Park Support, where they feel safer and have more comfort.
