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EEC primed to attract large amounts in foreign investment next year: Finance Minister
EconNov 13. 2020
By The Nation
Finance Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, who chaired the fourth Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) committee for this year on Thursday, said the plan to build a smart agricultural sector in the region was making good progress.
The system aims to employ technology in the agriculture industry to boost the quality of products, and subsequently increase farmers’ income, while making farming sustainable and meeting demands.
The plan focuses on five clusters, namely fruit, fisheries, plants for bio-chemical products, herbs and high-value agricultural goods.
The EEC will implement key projects with relevant agencies, such as establishing the Eastern Fruit Corridor (EFC), giving farmers knowledge of e-commerce, developing cosmetics from agricultural products and growing organic vegetables.
As for 5G network development, the committee has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TOT to start building 5G infrastructure immediately. The project should kick off within three months in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate and Rayong’s Ban Chang district, and create up to 100,000 jobs and establish income generating opportunities. It also hopes to lure foreign investment.
Supattanapong said the EEC Office and related agencies have continued to push for the 2022 EEC integration plan through cooperation with 18 ministries and 103 agencies with missions such as infrastructure development, tourism promotion, boosting education to improve the country’s workforce, research, technology and innovation, and improving the quality of life in mind.
He said the integration plan requires a budget of Bt300 billion, but only 20 per cent or about Bt20 billion will come from the state budget. The minister said the rest of the funding needs to come from private investment, which he hopes will start flowing in from next year.
“To attract investment in 2022, we will take proactive steps with both the Board of Investment [BoI] and the EEC. Main projects should close their deals this year, with the last one being the Laem Chabang Port. We will try to have the contracts signed within December to prove to investors that Thailand is ready,” he said.
At the same time, real signs of investment can be seen in the EEC. The BoI has said it issued more investment promotion certificates for the EEC and the third-quarter figures from the National Economic and Social Development Council to be announced on Monday should show clear signs of economic improvement.
Kanit Sangsubhan, EECO’s secretary-general, said a report on the EFC is being prepared for the upcoming EEC meeting next month, which will be chaired by the prime minister.
The fruit corridor project requires PTT and other partners to set up a cold storage system for storing 4,000 tonnes of fruit as well as building a piping system to service Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, among others.
Narit Therdsteerasukdi, BoI’s deputy secretary-general, said in the first nine months of this year, 313 projects had applied for the promotion of investment valued at Bt109.43 billion, marking a 16 per cent rise from the same period last year, which saw applications for 309 projects worth Bt185 billion.
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