Thailand considered being a center of manufacturing base with agricultural richness. It has a great amount of agricultural products that can be processed and exported. Thailand has developed its industry, trade and investment in various aspects especially tourism business, all of which generate revenue that helps accelerate economy. However, the current transportation system whether land, sea or air transportation, is still not well connected and lack capability to plan and manage systematically that leads to traffic jam, time and fuel consuming due to disorganized transportation and shipment. All reasons mentioned above could be a cause of the domestic and foreign investment slowdown and opportunity in generating revenue loss. Therefore, the preparation of Thai government on transportation system plan in moving towards the ASEAN Community and systematically and well-planned of transportation network are crucial in diminishing all obstacles of sustainable development of the country. From all reasons above, the interpellant would like to raise questions as follows:

1. Has the government been systematically and concretely planned and set up land, sea and air transportation network? How? Please provide more detail on this.
2. In case that the government has planned and set up transportation network, how would the government publicize this to Thai people, tourists and investors? Please provide more detail on this.

Answer to the first question Connectivity of transportation network in ASEAN is an important matter, in particularly for Thailand that considered to be one of the most widely connectable transportation hub with ASEAN countries. Somehow, Thailand has infrastructure issues that require improvement and development or else it would lose opportunities in this region. In this, Thai government plans to develop connectivity of transportation network systematically. The plan can be divided into 4 parts as follows:

1. Development of domestic road networks that connect to neighboring countries road networks
   1. North-South Corridor: The North route connects Bangkok with Lao People's

Democratic Republic through Chiang Khong District and also links to Kunming, People's Republic of China (PRC) though Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai Province with the total distance of 1,800 km. The domestic road of South route which heads to Sadao Checkpoint would be extended to 4-lane road. This road would links to main provinces on the route.

1. 2. East-West Corridor: This route connects Mae Sot District, Tak Province through

Sukhothai Province and Phitsanulok Province with Mukdahan Province and links to Savannakhet Province in Lao People's Democratic Republic and Da Nang Port in Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Border crossing point on this area has been improved as well as 4-lane-road extension in order to solve traffic issue. 

1. 3. Southern Corridor: This route connects Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This route considered to be main route as it connects three main cities of ASEAN. The road in this route would be extended into 4 lanes and would also links to Eastern part of Thailand in Chanthaburi Province. The link to Eastern part of Thailand would facilitate transportation and connectivity in this area. In the future, there would be route that links Bangkok to Dawei, Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

In this regard, to complete the road network, Thai government has extended the transportation network, improved and maintained domestic road, launched project to improve and maintain neighboring countries roads as well as set up 15 commodity transport stations and distribution center in main cities around Thailand.

2. Airport development
   1. Increase passenger capacity of Suvarnabhumi International Airport from 45 million to 60 million a year.
   2. Increase passenger capacity of Don Mueang International Airport to 22 million a year through expand the use of Terminal 2.
   3. Increase passenger capacity of Phuket International Airport to 12.5 million a year.

3. Sea port development
   1. Laem Chabang Port Development Project: Increase container capacity of Laem Chabang port from 10 million to 18 million a year. Development of crane system. Development of road network in Laem Chabang port area.
   2. Construction of new ports: Construct 4 new ports namely Pasak river port, Chumphon port, Songkhla port 2 and Pakbara port in Satun Province. These ports would be alternative transportation port for shipment to Singapore.

4. Development of railway to connect with ASEAN countries: Improve all railway network around Thailand. Construct of 2,900 km. double-track railway. Construct 3 new railways of 688 km. to link North-South Economic Corridor and East-West Economic Corridor. 

In this regard, there are relevant laws and Acts namely Bill on Authorizing the Ministry of Finance to Raise Loans for Development of Transportation Infrastructure B.E. …[1] and Bill on Annual Expenditure Budget B.E. …

Answer to the second question Government of Thailand prioritizes the publication of transportation network planning and set up by dividing the target groups of publication into three as follows:

Thai people: The Thai government would make a good understanding of the concept and significance of this development project through seminars around Thailand. The Thai government would build people awareness of the current status of the project where it would happen, how, how would Thailand be developed after this and how this project would affect Thai people’s living.

1. ASEAN member countries: To have transportation connectivity through ASEAN Ministers

of Transportation Meeting.             

2. Foreign investors: Through Summits: The Thai government would build awareness among foreign investors that Thailand has planned and invested in infrastructure as well as had a cooperation among ASEAN countries in developing high speed railway network. This is very important to foreign investors who would invest in Thailand. 

¹However, Decision 3 – 4/2014 of the Constitutional Court stated that Bill on Authorizing Ministry of Finance to Raise Loans for Development of Transportation Infrastructure B.E. … has not been correctly drafted according to constitutional provision and there are some phrases that oppose or contradict to section 169 paragraph 1 of the constitution and section 170 paragraph 2. The above mentioned oppose or contradict affected core substance which made this draft bill be rejected according to section 154 paragraph 3 of the constitution. For more information: http://www.constitutionalcourt.or.th/occ_web/download/article/file_import/center3-4_57.pdf