Bhumjaithai seeks renewed popularity through southern development

The first off-site Cabinet meeting, or ‘mobile Cabinet’ meeting, under the ‘Anutin 2 government’ is taking place in Hat Yai district, Songkhla, from August 31 to September 1.

Attention must now turn to a ‘key milestone’ across five southern provinces, namely Songkhla, Satun, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where the government is seeking to add flagship projects or economic stimulus measures.

The question is how far these can prove a turning point capable of masking the weakness in ‘public support for the government’.

That came after a key flagship policy, the THB1 trillion ‘Land Bridge Project’, ‘collapsed completely’ in the face of opposition from several sectors, along with serious concerns from the private sector.

More importantly, findings by the committee studying how to advance the infrastructure development project, established under a prime ministerial order and chaired by Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, clearly pointed to the project’s ‘lack of value for money’, eventually prompting the government to reverse course.

As a result, the Bhumjaithai government no longer has a policy selling point on the scale of a ‘mega-project’ with which to produce results and provide a symbol of success in the South.

The government’s first ‘mobile Cabinet’ meeting, being launched in the country’s axe-handle region, is therefore under scrutiny over its ‘strategic plan to develop the area and address its problems’, comprising 96 projects worth THB13.089 billion.

Although modest in scale, they will become the government’s ‘new flagship’, particularly for the leading party, Bhumjaithai.

The plan divides the projects into two main parts:

Part 1 comprises 41 necessary and urgent projects that are ready for immediate implementation, with a combined budget of THB1.598 billion covering all five provinces.

A closer look at key projects shows that Songkhla has proposed a reinforced-concrete bridge behind Wat Khlong Hae in Hat Yai district, a bank-protection system along Khlong Bang Dan in Mueang Songkhla district, the ‘SADAO FOOD ECONOMY’ food-economy promotion project, and a creative-culture project to take the heritage and wisdom of the Songkhla Lake Basin towards World Heritage status.

Satun, meanwhile, has proposed building the Satun International Convention Hall, renovating and repairing Ban Tha Thale Pier in Ko Sarai subdistrict, improving Ratchakit Prakan Stadium to promote sports tourism, and developing tourist attractions in Thale Ban National Park.

Pattani is focusing on dredging and maintaining the Pattani coastal navigation channel and boat mooring area, improving the efficiency of the water-management system, and developing the area’s road network.

Yala has proposed renovating Charu Phatthana Stadium in Yala City Municipality, dredging Bueng Bae Mo, and improving the reinforced-concrete road surface on Siroros Road in the Old Market area.

Narathiwat is pushing projects to upgrade the national highway network linking Narathiwat Airport, construct a water-retention basin to support drainage in Narathiwat city, develop Narathat Beach’s tourism potential, and build a new public park at the former prison site in Bang Nak subdistrict.

Part 2 comprises 55 policy proposals seeking government support.

The main highlights are large-scale strategic infrastructure projects in Pattani and Yala, with proposals totalling as much as THB11.491 billion:

Pattani has proposed a THB5.29 billion road-network development project forming a gateway to the southern border provinces, a THB993 million raw-water pumping station with a pipeline system to support the ‘Triangle of Stability, Prosperity and Sustainability’ model city, and a THB900 million Rama IX commemorative tower at the urban forest park.

Yala plans to propose a THB2.14 billion Betong Airport development project to extend the runway from 1,800 metres to 2,500 metres, a THB800 million project to develop the capacity of the Betong border checkpoint, a THB788 million ‘Yala City Tower’, and a THB580 million integrated sports centre within the Rama IX Commemorative Project.

Under the timeline, once the government has acknowledged all the project proposals, the meeting will examine, screen and prioritise them in detail, based mainly on each area’s readiness and urgent needs.

This will lead to consideration of budget allocations designed to improve quality of life, address hardship and stimulate the economy.

Amid economic problems that put the government’s stability at stake, the larger challenge of channelling ‘blue populism’ into the five southern provinces through this mobile Cabinet meeting goes beyond making a blue ‘move’ merely to turn around and revive government approval ratings now mired in crisis.

But viewed through a ‘political lens’, it is clear that the position of ‘Bhumjaithai’ in the ‘five southern provinces’ is now being encircled and crushed by rival parties in the ‘axe-handle battleground’.

The ‘Democrat Party’ is seeking to ‘draw votes’ and ‘build an advantage’ through its campaign against the ‘Land Bridge Project’, hoping to increase its number of MPs from the two seats it holds across the five provinces at the next election.

Meanwhile, the ‘Klatham Party’ is currently classed in the political equation as a party ‘waiting to join the government’, but its tally of ‘MP tickets’ ranks second only to Bhumjaithai in the South.

Across the five provinces alone, Klatham has seven MPs, compared with Bhumjaithai’s 11.

The ‘green party’ must therefore still be regarded as a major rival to the ‘blue party’ at the next election.

The ‘Prachachat Party’, which has four MPs across the five provinces, cannot be underestimated either.

Against this backdrop, with the ‘Bhumjaithai Party government’ beset on all sides by problems on the governing and political fronts, will the ‘new milestone’ that the first mobile Cabinet meeting of the Anutin 2 government is preparing to advance have enough power to turn the situation around and lift the government out of its current political mire? If so, how?

Ultimately, projects worth tens of billions of baht may build roads, bridges, airports, tourist attractions or infrastructure.

But the bigger question is how far they can restore ‘political popularity’.

This is therefore not merely a mobile Cabinet meeting for development, but another test of whether ‘funding’ and ‘votes’ can go hand in hand in the five-province southern battleground, where Bhumjaithai is placing a major bet.

Source: Bangkokbiznews