Songkhla Industrial Estate in Thai South set to be opened in 2020

BANGKOK, April 9 (TNA) - The state-run Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) has announced that the construction of the first phase of the Songkhla Industrial Estate will be started within this month and is expected to be completed to welcome international investors within 2020. IEAT Governor Somchint Pilouk made the announcement in Bangkok on April 8, acknowledging that the Songkhla Industrial Estate, under the government-backed Sadao Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Thai Far South, should bring about a total investment value of about 13.80 billion baht and should create about 3,400 new jobs after it is officially launched. Somchint told journalists that the Songkhla Industrial Estate is the second industrial estate run by her IEAT under the Thai government's policy on the establishment of SEZs, aimed to promote and stimulate international investment in five major local industrial sectors, including processed farm, rubber production, garment, leather and logistics, as well as electrical and electronic appliance manufacturing industries. Under the IEAT governor, the Songkhla Industrial Estate, once completedly constructed, will become an eco-industrial estate, in which both business operators and people from local communities can equally utilize for their peaceful co-existence on the sustainable basis. The IEAT governor stated that a fund of about 900 million baht will be used for the construction of the first phase-Songkhla Industrial Estate, located on a 629-rai plot of land (2.5 rai = 1 acre), to become the industrial and the commercial zones, as well as the first-phase of central utility, other facilities and green areas. The IEAT chief pointed out that Songkhla is located in an outstanding and potential area with a promising prospect of becoming Thailand's growing southern investment and economic hub, to be connected with the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), thanks to its two well-established Sadao and Padang Besar Checkpoints, where there has been thriving land border trade with a highest annual value in Thailand, linking with Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and even India. (TNA)