CPN announces Bt10 bn mixed-use project in Korat

That expenditure will make Nakhon Ratchasima the second-largest city after Bangkok in terms of investment capital allocated by the group. 

Construction is 15 per cent complete and the project is scheduled to be officially opened by the third quarter of 2017. It will take seven years to see a return on investment.

The new complex is on a 65-rai (10.4-hectare) plot on Mittraphap Road, with building space occupying more than 355,000 square metres. The complex will contain a shopping mall, a hotel, a condominium, a convention hall, an outdoor lifestyle market and a park. Between 40,000 and 50,000 people are expected to visit daily.

The project announced yesterday replaces the previous shopping-centre project in Nakhon Ratchasima announced by CPN in 2013. Located on the province’s Outer Ring Road, that 52-rai plot will be kept and will be considered for another retail format to be developed in the future.

Wallaya Chirathivat, CPN senior executive vice president, said the company had conducted an internal survey on which provinces it should develop a new property project in, and Nakhon Ratchasima was one of the choices.

The survey took into consideration consumer insights and their specific demands in the marketplace. Also considered were factors such as the likelihood of city area expanding and adding new homes in the future, purchasing power of consumers in the province, economic growth, and the appropriate size of the new retail complex.

 

Great potential 

“We saw great potential for developing a large mixed-use project in Nakhon Ratchasima as the province is attracting private investment in line with the [capital] city’s expansion and the government’s 2020-25 plan to invest on transport and infrastructure projects, such as dual-track and high-speed railways, in the province,” Wallaya said.

She added that with such investment, Nakhon Ratchasima would enjoy tremendous growth in the future compared with other provinces, and CPN would respond to the government’s investment plan. 

Located in the Northeast of Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima province is considered one of the country’s most important hubs to power the economy, trade, tourism and investment, with connecting routes to 20 provinces in the region and neighbouring countries.

“What we would like to do in Nakhon Ratchasima is to develop a new central business district in the province,” Wallaya said.

She said CPN would spend between Bt10 billion and Bt15 billion to develop two to three shopping centres in each of the next three to five years.

The company will open the 25th CentralPlaza retail complex in Nakhon Si Thammarat this Thursday. CPN has also conducted a major renovation of its Pattaya Centre complex in Pattaya and changed its name to CentralPlaza Pattaya, to be officially opened in December.

Next month, the company will announce its two-year plan to renovate its CentralWorld complex at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong Intersection.

“We are continuing to invest in high-potential locations, covering all the regions of the country, aiming to help to push forward the country’s economy,” Wallaya said. “We will also create investment and cash flow as well as enhancing Thailand as the best hub for trade and tourism in the Southeast Asian region.”