Impact aims to turn Muang Thong Thani into one-stop destination

Impact and Bangkok Land, its parent company, are continuously investing in new projects, managing director Paul Kanjanapas said yesterday. 
For Impact alone, new projects under way are worth a combined Bt5.66 billion. 
The company will open the Bt1-billion three-star, 587-room Ibis Bangkok Impact Hotel and The Portal, a four-storey retail building worth Bt600 million, next month after the launch of the Bt60-million Impact Speed Park, a world-class go-karting facility at the iconic Impact Lakeside, which opened late last year, he said. 
In addition, the company will commence construction of a 70,000-square-metre water park in Muang Thong Thani at an estimated cost of Bt3 billion in October, with completion expected next year. 
The park will be built by the same contractor that built the Vana Nava Water Park in Hua Hin. 
However, the construction site will be moved from the area around the lake to a plot near the new Ibis hotel and Muang Thong Thani Outlet Square, which is expected to draw huge crowds of shoppers, Paul said. 
Meanwhile, Bangkok Land is developing the Cosmo Office Park office building and Cosmo Bazaar shopping mall at an estimated cost of Bt3.5 billion, with the complex scheduled to open soon. 
Impact wants to keep the remaining 300 rai (48 hectares) of vacant land around the lake for future commercial projects because the price of the land is expected to rise by at least 20-30 per cent once the Pink Line is completed in three years’ time, and it will add value to new investments, the managing director explained. 
Another planned new project is a five-star 300-room hotel under the AccorHotels Group’s Pullman brand, which will be developed at an estimated cost of Bt1 billion.
Construction is expected to commence next year, with completed scheduled for 2019. 
“By 2019, Impact [in Muang Thong Thani] will become a premier convention centre with the most comprehensive range of facilities to meet every need and lifestyle of MICE [meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition] travellers and their families, including three hotels ranging from three to five stars, retail buildings, go-kart track, Impact Tennis Academy, Impact Sports Club, Impact Restaurant and a water park,” Paul said. 
“We want Muang Thong Thani to become a one-stop tourist attraction like Disneyland or Sentosa Island in Singapore. New projects such as the go-kart track and water park will help attract more visitors to the area, and at the same time generate more income for our business partners.” 
Other projects planned include a theatre, shopping centre, beach club and a marina to accommodate yachts. 
Impact is also ready to construct a new building consisting of 500 rooms at its Ibis Hotel, while Bangkok Land has a cash flow of more than Bt10 billion earmarked to support new investments, Paul said. 
Meanwhile, as the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre will be closed for major renovation, the organisers of large-scale events planned for the centre have contacted Impact seeking new venues, he said. 
“This year we expect to see a 10-per-cent shortfall from our targeted revenue of Bt2.2 billion due to the economic slowdown,” |he predicted.