Road expansion to support Thai-Cambodian border trade set to be completed by 2020

BANGKOK, May 9 (TNA) - The Department of Rural Roads, under the Thai Ministry of Transport, is expanding a main road in Sa Kaeo Province in the Thai East to support cross-border trade and logistics networks between Thailand and neighboring Cambodia in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The department's director-general, Pisak Jitviriyavasin, told journalists of the ongoing construction work on Wednesday, saying that the project has been set to be completed by 2020 when the 4,900-kilometer road will become a new four-lane land route in the Thai border province. Pisak stated that a total budget of about 136.5 million baht has been earmarked to fund the provincial road expansion project, aimed to support the growing Thai-Cambodia border trade and investment, as well as the Thai government's strategy on the development of cross-border logistics connectivity. Besides, the expanded road, once completed, will ease traffic jams on the Highway No. 33 and adjacent areas, as well as shorten goods transport times and costs, boost local business activities, employment and local people's living conditions and promote local tourism. A potential industrial zone, the Sa Kaeo Industrial Estate, is foreseen to be among most beneficiaries from the provincial road expansion once it is completed over the next couple of years. (TNA)