It was a policy meant to ignite a golden age of infrastructure development and put Thailand at the heart of Southeast Asia’s trade and investment for decades to come.
Three years – and three prime ministers – after it was first proposed, a multibillion-dollar “landbridge” across Thailand’s southern neck to slash transport times between Asia’s main shipping lanes has now hit a dead end, entangled in the kingdom’s intractable political crisis.
As Thais prepare to vote on February 8 for yet another government, southerners say the promise of a landbridge connecting the Gulf of Thailand to the Indian Ocean now feels empty.
“We put our resort up for sale when they announced it, but we’re about to have a fourth government, and they still haven’t even started,” said Rung*, a resort owner in Chumphon province that is at the heart of the proposed landbridge.
“All of the properties around me put up their land for sale as soon … but we’re all still waiting for buyers.”
On February 8, Thai voters will seek a reset from a decade-long decline that is showing up in poor economic fundamentals in part caused by the chronic political instability.
Thailand, Asia, Chumphon province, Bangkok, People's Party, Corruption, Gulf of Thailand, Cambodia, Anutin Charnvirakul, Political instability, Indian Ocean, Pheu Thai, Bhumjaithai, Chulalongkorn University, Thaksin Shinawatra, Landbridge#Thailand #election #looms #voters #seek #national #reset #decade #decline1769818993
Anutin Charnvirakul
Asia
Bangkok
Bhumjaithai
Cambodia
Chulalongkorn University
Chumphon province
corruption
decade
decline
election
Gulf of Thailand
Indian Ocean
Landbridge
looms
national
People's Party
Pheu Thai
Political instability
reset
seek
Thailand
Thaksin Shinawatra
voters
