Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras will meet executives from Siam Cement (SCG) and PTT today to discuss the National Environmental Board's pollution control measures, on which expanded investment in Map Ta Phut under the Petrochemical Phase 3 plan will be conditional.

The board's plan to control pollution will, for instance, require operators to continue reducing pollution emissions from their plants and to eliminate volatile organic compounds.

"If the representatives from these companies agree, then they can proceed with their investment plans," Kosit said yesterday.

The strict requirements were worked out after Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong province was found to be generating an alarming level of pollution, prompting the ministry to work with the National Environmental Board to set requirements to curb pollution emitted from factories.

The conditions will be imposed on new factories to be constructed under the planned investment expansion under Petrochemical Phase 3, which will include a seventh gas-separation unit.

It is roughly estimated that the combined investment planned under Phase 3 will top Bt300 billion.

Meanwhile, the Board of Investment (BoI) yesterday approved seven projects with a total investment value of Bt82.744 billion. Four of the projects are in the petrochemical sector, which had applied for investment privileges before the ministry's environmental announcement.

TOC Glycol, a subsidiary of PTT Chemical, plans to invest Bt2.32 billion to produce 143,000 tonnes of mono-ethylene glycol a year.

PTT Chemical applied to produce 238,000 tonnes of propylene oxide a year, 100,000 tonnes of polyols and 595,000 tonnes of ISO-Octane with an investment of Bt49.169 billion.

These two projects will be located in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate.

Thai Poly Ethylene will invest Bt7.312 billion to produce high-density polyethylene with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year, and Thai Poly Propylene will invest Bt8.587 billion to produce polypropylene with an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes. These two factories are in Rayong.

The BoI also approved two ethanol-production projects, both to be located in Sa Kaew province. The projects have a combined investment of Bt7.6 billion and will produce 264 million litres of ethanol a year.

The other approved project is for steam electricity generated by Glow Energy, with an investment of Bt7.755 billion to expand electricity by 120 megawatts and produce steam at a rate of 100 tonnes per hour. The project -  in Map Ta Phut - will use imported bitumen coal from Indonesia as its fuel.

Kosit said he believed investment applications this year would reach the target of Bt500 billion. The figures in the first quarter are already higher than that of last year by 75 per cent: Bt129.3 billion of net applications compared to Bt73.9 billion last year.

Most applications are in the petrochemicals, paper and plastics sectors, with a combined value of Bt33.7 billion.

BoI secretary-general Satit Charnjava-nakul said the US's decision to downgrade Thailand's status to a Priority Watch List country for intellectual property should not affect the investment atmosphere, as it should affect only a small group of sectors.

Foreign direct investment in the first three months increased by 25 per cent from the same period last year, he added.

He said Kosit had also assigned officials to work with companies that received BoI approval but have not proceeded with the   projects, targeting the automotive, electricity and metal sectors among others, to ensure further expansion of investment.

The BoI will enhance incentives to attract foreign investment, the main targets being Japan, the United States, the European Union, China and Australia.

Concerning the eco-car project, Satit said the BoI had come up with an excise rate but he refused to disclose the figure. He merely hinted that to encourage auto-makers to produce 100,000 cars a year, the government would have to provide tax benefits to ensure that the companies are able to market their products here and abroad.

The eco-car excise rate should be finalised by June at the latest, he said.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation