FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Highway star

Highway star

Highways director Dr Chayatan Phromsorn is looking forward to Thailand becoming an Asean transport hub linked to neighbouring countries by new and improved roads

 

Dr Chayatan Phromsorn, director of the International Highway Cooperation Bureau at Thailand’s Department of Highways, says the country’s domestic road and highway network is now ready to be linked with those in neighbouring countries.
“If we look back, Thailand really started to develop its domestic roads and highways during the Cold War years, to provide access to various parts of the country and to boost national security.
“In those years, we built over 60,000 kilometres of roads nationwide. That was before the 1980s. Afterwards, neighobouring countries started to open up, and economic development in Thailand started to advance rapidly.
“As a result, we started to upgrade the two-lane undivided roads into four-lane divided highways, and build motorways for high-volume traffic, linking Bangkok with Chonburi and Pattaya, for example, as well as building the outer ring roads around Bangkok. Now, we have about 350 kilometres of motorways in use, out of a total of 4,000 kilometres that we plan to build.
“Regarding cross-border highway links in Indochina, we now have links with southern China towards the routes along the Mekong River, under the framework of the Greater Mekong Sub-region [GMS] development programme involving six countries, namely, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
“Networking has been developed over the past 30 years, with three main corridors, starting with the north-south corridor from Kumming in Yunnan province of China, or the R3 route, to Laos and Thailand’s northeast. Right now, the missing link is a bridge over the Mekong River at Huay-sai in Laos to Chiang Khong in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. Construction of this link will be finished early next year.
“When the bridge is open, you will be able to drive from Bangkok to Kumming. That route is about 800 kilometres in southern China, about 200 kilometres in Laos and another 800 kilometres to Bangkok. This route will go further down to southern Thailand and to Malaysia and Singapore, where highways already exist. Altogether, the north-south corridor is about 3,000 kilometres.
“Next is Route 9, or the east-west economic corridor, linking Myanmar with Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, or linking the Andaman Sea with the South China Sea.
“It starts in Myanmar, passing through the town of Myawadi into Thailand’s Mae Sot district in Tak province, along Route 12 to Sukothai, Phitsanulok and Mukdahan, then over the Mekong via the second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge to Savannakhet in Laos. From there it goes to the border with Vietnam, at Danang. 
“In Thailand, the highways have been upgraded to four lanes, with 80 per cent of the work completed. Missing links include one from Phitsanulok to Petchabun covering over 100 kilometres, and another in Myanmar.
“Third is the link between the planned Dawei port in Myanmar with Thailand’s Laem Chabang port and ports in southern Vietnam. We already have the highway network linking Bangkok with the deep-sea port at Laem Chabang, so we plan to upgrade existing roads into a motorway from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi province near the border with Myanmar, based on the development of Dawei port.
“Thailand is at the heart of mainland Asean. Now, we have built the infrastructure ready for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. This will benefit the country’s economy. For example, we will be able to get raw materials from Laos, via the highway network linking the two countries, to Laem Chabang port.
“This will significantly cut transport costs and time, thus boosting Thailand’s competitiveness as a production hub in the AEC,” he says.
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