Treasury to organise public bidding for Special Economic Zone

BANGKOK, Dec 18 (TNA) -- The Treasury Department has announced that it will be holding a public bidding in February 2018 for private sector investment to develop the special economic zones in Kanchanaburi, Mae Sod and Nakhon Phanom in preparation for the launch of the Dawei deep sea port in Myanmar. Director-General of the Treasury Department Patchara Anuatasilpa on Monday visited a 3,000 rai (1,186 acre) plot in Ban Kao sub-district in Kanchanaburi municipality slated for the Ban Phu Nam Ron Special Economic Zone ahead of the planned public bidding. This will involve three zones simultaneously launched which includes the Ban Phu Nam Ron Special Economic Zone in Kanchanaburi province, the Mae Sod Special Economic Zone in Tak province and the Nakhon Phanom Special Economic Zone in Nakhon Phanom province. Mr Patchara states that a survey by the Kanchanaburi branch of the Federation of Thai Industries indicate that interest in the Ban Phu Nam Ron Special Economic Zone from major businesses and SMEs is very high. The director-general said the public bidding scheduled for January of next year is to attract investors - who will be granted exclusive rights by the Treasury; to develop the property for SMEs. Sombat Pattanamas the head of the Ban Phu Nam Ron Immigrations office meanwhile revealed that the government has set aside a budget of 701 million baht for the construction of administrative buildings for both the Immigrations Department and the Food And Drugs Administration as well as animal quarantine facilities on a 1,300 rai (514 acre) plot which will be completed by 2019. Once development of the special economic zones has been completed it is projected that cross-border exports of natural gas, petroleum and consumer goods will far outstrip the current 300 million baht and reach billions of baht in the future. (TNA)