PM to speed up EEC project

BANGKOK, July 6 (TNA) – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he was accelerating the development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to turn the country into a high-income economy. After chairing a meeting on the EEC, Gen Prayut said the project would free Thailand from its middle income trap and turn it into a high-income country. The development requires mega projects and takes time. The government started the process today or it would be too late, the prime minister said. He said that the government did not turn its back on local residents. Therefore, he ordered officials to protect local farming, natural resources and the environment while developing the EEC. He said that the EEC needed dual track railways to connect it with airports and ports, and there would be a new railway to link the Northeast and the East including the Laem Chabang port. The prime minister also said that foreign investment in the EEC would be treated fairly and he would like to tell people in other regions that the East was first selected for the development because its infrastructures were ready to support the new industries that the government wanted to promote. Afterwards the government would have other development projects that suited other regions, he said. (TNA)