Rubber City at 80 per cent progress

BANGKOK, March 5 (TNA) -- The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) reports that the Rubber City pilot program in Songkhla province has advanced 80 per cent and special promotions are being planned to attract SMEs interest. Verapong Chaiperm, IEAT Governor stated that once completed, the facility will be able to provide comprehensive support for rubber related cluster industries. These will include automotive tyres, latex, compound rubber and other associated industries. Optimistic projections for local rubber consumption expects an increase from 30,000 to 200,000 tons/year. The Rubber City when fully operational will become the leading R&D centre for rubber business development taking advantage of Thailand's strategic significance within the Rubber Corridor under the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand (IMT) growth triangle (IMT-GT). IEAT plans to set aside 25 rai of the Rubber City as factory space which will rented out to SMEs at resonable rate. These modern up-to-date factories will be complemented with comprehensive public utilities which facilitating the operators who can start their operations almost immediately. So far six SMEs have agreed to rent factory spaces with investments worth an estimated 140 million baht. When the entire facility is rented out total investments in the Rubber City will exceed 500 million baht and will be able to provide no less than 1,000 new jobs. (TNA)