After discussions with NEC executives, Pasu Loharjun, the permanent secretary for industry and chairman of the IEAT, said the agency had been developing the smart park at the Map Ta Phut estate in Rayong province as a model of a digitally managed industrial estate in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

He said that NEC Corp, acknowledged for its innovation and technology, has been invited to lay down the systems – such as for communications, information technology, security and logistics – for business development. The smart park is scheduled to open in 2021.

IEAT governor Verapong Chaiperm said that, among NEC’s innovations, it is known for its facial recognition technology called NeoFace. The technology works in combination with surveillance cameras to combat crime and is being set up in smart cities across the world, Verapong said.

Investment amounting to hundreds of millions of baht in the smart park will be determined later as being best managed by a government to government (G2G) process, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) or under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The smart park is seen as helping to drive development of the so-called S-Curve industries that are at the core of the government’s Thailand 4.0 vision. These industries include aviation and aerospace, robotics, logistics and other digital industries.

Yutaka Tomiyori, senior manager for business development at NEC, said that Asean and East Asia tend to see fast growth in smart city business as populations in the big cities will rise quickly with demand for security technology and solutions to traffic problems.

The place with the highest potential is Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and each country is appropriate for different businesses, Tomiyori said.

Indonesia is suitable for security systems in sport stadiums and smart traffic systems, while Thailand is appropriate for security systems with face and fingerprint scans and smart CCTV surveillance cameras to detect irregularities and dangerous people or criminals, he said, adding that this capability should be extended to a smart city control centre in the future.

“NEC Corp has expertise in information and communication technology with different solutions in different areas.

If a city is an old city, sensors will be set up to upgrade it to a smart city and it will be more difficult than making a new city as a smart one,” Tomiyori said.

In regard to the EEC, a smart city plan has been proposed and discussed with Thailand with solutions to the security system, he said.

Tomiyori said NEC had no immediate plan for investment in the EEC but was open to participating with other Japanese companies in projects in the region.

Officials from the IEAT will conduct a study of a management model of Ota Market, Japan’s largest central wholesale market for fruit, vegetables and flowers for the proposed Eastern Fruit Corridor (EFC) in the smart park. The Ota Market is known internationally for its auctions.

The study will be conducted in a number of key areas: product inspection before auction; auction of all products through a computerised system with licensed bidders and middlemen; a bidder with the highest offer price as a winner; sanitary inspection of products; and product distribution in due time.

Passengers intending to fly business class on Thai Airways’ new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft will have to first pass the waist test.

Flight Lieutenant Pratthana Pattanasirim, THAI’s director of security and flight standard division, said yesterday that a passenger with waist wider than 56 inches cannot fly business class on Boeing 787-9.

He said the business class seats have been installed with new safety belts and airbag system by the manufacturer in accordance with the safety standards of the US Federal Aviation Administration. The safety belt cannot accommodate a passenger whose waist is larger than 56 inches.

Pratthana said the new safety-belt system cannot accommodate a parent with a child sitting on his or her lap hence parents travelling with young children also cannot fly business class on the Dreamliner.

THAI received the two Dreamliner planes in September last year and on March 6 announced that passengers with waist wider than 56 inches and carrying a lap-held infant could not fly business class.

Pratthana’s clarifications on Friday came in the wake of Thai papers carrying headlines that the airline had banned “fat people from flying the Dreamliner”.

PTT NAMES CHARNSILP AS NEXT PRESIDENT AND CEO

Piyasawas Amaranant, chairman of PTT, revealed on Friday that the board of the listed energy conglomerate had unanimously approved the appointment of Charnsilp Trinuchkarn as president and chief executive officer, replacing Thewin Wongwanich, whose term expires on August 30.

Charnsilp has high experience at PTT, particularly in technology, and is expected to help the company strengthen its strategy is terms of disruptive technology to find new markets.

He also has the vision to take forward the “Change for Future of Thailand 4.0” policy to lead PTT into becoming an organisation with pride, transparency, sustainability and a promising future, Piyaswas said.

According to PTT, Charnslip has not been accused by the National Anti-Corruption Commission in the palm-oil scandal, as reported by some media.

He therefore has the qualifications to serve in management at state enterprises or public companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

PRICE RISE SEEN IN CHICKEN BY-PRODUCTS

Prices of day-old chicks, domestic live chickens and chicken by-products have remained at low levels due to lingering excess supply and weaker meat demand, according to Bualuang Research.

“We hope that Chinese imports of Thai chicken by-products will boost domestic by-product prices in the second half of the year, but the risk factor is the price uptrend for raw materials, which will squeeze livestock margins in 2018. Our Hold rating stands, pending visible recoveries in by-product prices and earnings,” the research house said in a release on Friday.

THE Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is urging companies to reskill their workers with the required digital know-how and create promising startup ventures that can help drive Thailand’s digital transformation.

Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj also said he hoped to see the private sector increase its spending on research and development and other efforts to push innovation.

Currently, the private sector’s overall spending on R&D is less than 0.8 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The major companies should also set up their own incubation centres to help prospective startups draw up their business plans, Pichet said yesterday in a speech at the Thailand’s Digital Transformation Forum, co-hosted by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The ministry says it has continued to promote the use of digital technology and the establishment of the digital infrastructure and related legal frameworks over many aspects that are required to create a digital ecosystem.

Draft laws on cyber-security and data protection are expected to be put before the Cabinet this month. The establishment of an Internet of Things Institute is expected to proceed in the fourth quarter of this year in Sriracha.

The ministry has also promoted the analysis of Big Data in all ministries with the aim of developing better public services.

Pichet has also proposed that foreign companies planning to develop projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) join with universities in the area to create curriculums in order to better train students with the skills to fit their projects. He has put this idea to the state agencies in charge of developing the EEC. The minister has advocated such a move as helping to ensure that a skilled workforce is available for the EEC, which covers the provinces of Rayong, Chon Buri and Chachoengsao.

OSMEP will become the centre connecting and administering useful data and information from other agencies for easier access by SMEs, Kobsak who supervises the OSMEP said after the meeting with the office’s executives.

He said that the office will also go ahead with five policies to support community enterprises, strengthen potential SMEs, push for SME 4.0 with digital technologies including e-Commerce and Big Data, develop SME network and make OSMEP reform.

Through the integration plan for SME promotion this year, OSMEP expects to add economic value of about Bt90 billion for 331,315 SMEs, which is estimated to raise SME gross domestic product by 5-5.5 per cent, up 5 per cent from the previous year.

This year, a national committee will define privileges and criteria for people and communities across the country in terms of their needs and rights to propose, before the government proceeds with land purchseas and investments in Thailand’s new Power Development Plan (PDP) next year, said Pornchai Rujiprapa, chairman of the National Energy Reform Committee.

Delivering his keynote speech at the seminar on “ The GMS 25th Anniversary : Achievement, Lessons Learned, and the Way Forward” hosted by Asian Development Bank, Arkhom said yesterday that as Thailand has been doing more trade and investments with countries along the Mekong River, it has led to traffic congestions at major border points. Over the past 25 years, the six countries (Thailand, Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam) participating in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) development project have been successful in developing their economies and close co-operations in the GMS sub-reigon, said Arkhom.

He said the government will build more roads and bridges at Mae Sot district in Tak province in the north to ease the congestion of cargo trucks waiting in a long queue on the bridge crossing into Myanmar. New bridges will be built in order to separate the transport of cargoes and people, he said.

Similar problems have also occurred at Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province in the eastern region bordering Cambodia and at Mukdahan province in the northeast connecting Laos .

New bridges and rail tracks will be built to link Thailand with Cambodia, he said.

The railway connection with Cambodia currently under construction is expected to open for service later this year, It will connect Sa Kaeo with Sisophon in Cambodia before extending to Poipet later, he said.

The Thai government has planned to invest Bt 2 trillion in transport infrastructures in next five years, he said.

The government will expand the deep seaports at Laem Chabang in order to accommodate more goods and cargos from Laos and Cambodia as well as Southern China, he said.

The cross border pact is expected to be agreed on during the meeting in Hanoi today (Thursday) before being forwarded to the GMS leader summit at the end of this month, he said.

The agreement will facilitate cross border trade as cargo trucks could cross borders without checking by officials .

Airports linkage is also in the pipeline to connect cities in the region, he said.

Apart from the high-speed rail from Bangkok to Nong Khai province, the government is also planning a new rail route from Khon Kaen to Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom provinces , he said.

Another rail line will soon start from Denchai in Lampang province to Chiang Khong district in northern Chiang Rai province.

This is a welcome incentive that could help reduce administrative burdens and costs for those qualifying for the Smart visa and their employers. There are also important benefits for accompanying family members. The Smart visa is offered to those above individuals who wish to work or to invest in Thailand in the 10 targeted S-Curve industries.

Qualifying applicants must submit a Smart visa application along with supporting documents to the Smart Visa Unit, a newly established department under the Board of Investment.

The Smart Visa Unit will process applications, including assessing technical qualifications, identifying and sorting through immigration issues, confirming whether the applied occupations are not legally prohibited by various designated agencies, and obtaining verification and endorsement from relevant government agencies that employer companies and start-up companies are in the targeted S-Curve industries.

These processes will be completed before the Smart Visa Unit issued a qualification endorsement letter for applicant to use in applying for the Smart visa at either the Thai Embassies or Consulates (those outside Thailand) or the Immigration Bureau at the One-Stop Center (those in Thailand).

The qualification endorsement letter for the Smart visa is valid for 60 days.The total processing time is estimated at 30 working days upon receipt of a completed application dossier.

At first glance, the Smart Visa appears to be an attractive programme; however, we have reservations regarding the administrative and implementation processes.

From our review of the details of the programme, it may be difficult for individuals to meet the required criteria, since in practice, additional documents may be required. For one, there is no further guidance clarifying the industries, besides listing the 10 S-Curve industries.

Foreign start-up entrepreneurs under the Smart visa must set up a company in Thailand in order to comply with the visa requirements.

However, should the foreign entrepreneur wish to retain control of his or her company in Thailand, that entrepreneur may be required,

depending on the nature of his or her business activities, to obtain a foreign business license under the Thailand Foreign Business Act. Obtaining a licence could take up to three months.

Furthermore, Smart visa holders would still need to prove their qualification status on an annual basis, which is no different from non-immigrant visa holders who need to renew their visas and work permits on a yearly basis (or every two or four years for non-immigrant visas granted under special incentives programs by the BOI).

Overall, if candidates successfully qualify and be granted a Smart visa whilst maintaining qualifications throughout the duration of the visa, the benefits – such as not having to apply for a work permit or a re-entry permit or extension of the 90-day reporting to a year – could be considered well worth the administrative efforts required under the Smart visa.

Contributed by LYNN TASTAN, Tax Partner, Global Mobility Services, KPMG in Thailand