Amata visit marks closer ties with Yokohama

Chairman Surin Pitsuwan led a Thai delegation to Yokohama to underscore cooperation on the Smart City scheme, following a letter of cooperation signed by the two parties.
The Thai delegation was warmly welcomed by Katsunori Watanabe, deputy mayor of Yokohama. 
Amata, the largest private industrial cities developer in Thailand, is transforming its 42-square-kilometre industrial city located in Chon Buri into a Smart City with state-of-the-art technology, renewable energy, energy efficient infrastructure and sustainable environmental management.
“We are located in the heart of the newly launched Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). We want to lead the country’s industrial sector and urbanisation into a new era. 
“The Smart City concept will guide us in raising our capacity to serve our investors and clients,” said the chairman, who is also the immediate past secretary-general of Asean.
Amata has established two industrial cities in Thailand, both located in the EEC.
“We are essentially a new sprawling urban area with our own first-rate infrastructure and logistics services. 
“We have to plan ahead to be prepared for future expansion and transformation of the increasingly congested industrial and commercial region in the East,” he said.
Each year, the output of Amata’s factory clients is 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
A closer collaboration with Yokohama, one of the most successful smart cities in the world, will give Amata a leading edge in transforming urban/industrial areas in Thailand into more efficient, sustainable, competitive and liveable production bases.

The vision
Amata’s vision is to become the leading smart city in Thailand and Asean to promote sustainable and energy-efficient smart living within industrialised cities.
Amata had agreed on key collaboration areas on Smart City collaboration with Yokohama early this year. 
Yokohama will share its expertise in integrated urban planning, application of technology and innovative smart urban management, sustainable urban environment, disaster and climate change and resilient Smart City development identified under the government’s Smart City programme.
“Japanese investors are the top FDI investors for Thailand. In Amata City at Chon Buri province, close to about 60 per cent of our clientele are Japanese. 
“Our chairman Surin’s visit to Yokohama is timely for the Amata team to deepen the relationship with Yokohama government officials and set the stage for the Smart City collaboration between Japan and Thailand,” said Vikrom Kromadit, chief executive officer of Amata.
Undertaking collective collaboration with its citizens and the private sector, Yokohama has been transformed into one of the most liveable and vibrant cities in the world. 
One of Yokohama’s goals is to share its accumulated knowledge with other cities that face similar urban challenges and has actively undertaken various international cooperation activities to achieve this, including implementing public-private partnership activities.
Y-PORT Centre was established in May 2015 as a leading platform for this initiative. Through the Yokohama Partnership of Resources and Technologies Centre, Yokohama is promoting city-to-city collaboration, the sharing of expertise in urban management and the introduction of private sector firms that can provide urban solutions in Asian countries.