Thailand prepares for super cluster

BANGKOK, June 13 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) and three other relevant agencies, plans to quickly increase power supply to support a "super cluster", comprising local electrical, electronic and telecommunications industries, to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). OIE Director-General Siriruj Chulakaratana told journalists on June 12 that his agency, together with the Department of Industrial Works, the Office of the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) are formulating the plan. Siriruj said that his office will gather information on insufficient power at factories and will report the findings to the electricity authority. Siriruj expressed his hope that the plan on power supply for the industries in seven Thai provinces, including Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima, will be concluded by this month. According to the senior official, local electrical, electronic and telecommunications industries are enjoying the best investment promotional privileges and need stable power supply to control production quality, which depends on many factors including cleanliness, ventilation, temperatures, humidity and machine precision. The senior official acknowledged that any disruption of power supply could affect product deliveries because it could damage all products in a single lot and it would take at least a few hours to set up machines before they could be run again. (TNA)