Thai touts $31bn 'land bridge' amid strait crisis
BANGKOK, April 28 -- The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has given Thailand impetus to advance a longstanding plan to create a logistics link between the Indian and Pacific oceans, with its government on Monday seeking to court Singapore as an investor.
Thailand's government has said it is reviving a "Land Bridge" project across its narrow southern peninsula after recent disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz underscored the vulnerability of global chokepoints, including the nearby Malacca Strait.
The previous administration drafted a law for the Land Bridge but the proposal fell by the wayside during a bout of political turbulence, with public hearings and environmental and health impact assessments incomplete and some resistance from residents. A proposal is expected to be submitted to cabinet in June or July and the government would seek investors for the estimated 1 trillion baht ($30.97 billion) project, potentially starting in the third quarter, Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said at the weekend.
A decades-old idea, the Land Bridge envisions two deep-sea ports, one in Ranong on the Andaman Sea and another in Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand, linked by 90 km of road and rail plus energy infrastructure like pipelines....
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