Cabinet to approve budget for development projects in Thai far South

BANGKOK, November 21 (TNA) - The Cabinet is expected to approve a state budget to fund development projects in the Thai far South at its next mobile meeting, set to be held in Songkhla province on November 29-30. Songkhla Governor Krisda Boonraj told reporters that he, himself, and governors of four other southernmost Thai provinces, including Yala, Pattani, Naratiwat, and Satun, had a meeting with Thai Prime minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at Bangkok's Government House earlier this week to brief the prime minister on their proposed development plans which need financial support from the central government and will be presented before the forthcoming mobile Cabinet meeting for further consideration. Krisda acknowledged that Songkhla alone needs about 180 million baht from the government's far South budget to finance new local development projects, including those on the construction of a new tunnel route, under a railroad, to ease traffic congestion in Hat Yai, a new road linking Natawee district with neighbouring Yala province, a new drainage system and a river-bank wall to solve the flooding problem and soil erosion in Hat Yai, as well as the one on the improvement of a learning centre for local community goods under the government-supported One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) Programme. Meanwhile, the Thai government is organizing an exhibition on "Thailand's Future 2020" at the international convention centre of Prince of Songkhla University, Hat Yai Campus, from November 19-December 1, 2013, during which projects on further developing Songkhla's potential are also included for the public display, namely the construction of a local ring-road, the Sadao-Hat Yai motorway and a dual-railway linking Songkhla's Padang Besar with Tung Song in adjacent Nakhon Si Thammarat Province and the improvement of the Songkhla-Singha Nakhon Deep Seaport. (TNA)