Southern Seaboard 'crucial'

The country's industrial growth could slow in the next three to five years unless concerned ministries take serious action to developing the Southern Seaboard, the outgoing permanent secretary of the Industry Ministry, Chakramon Phasukavanich, said this week.

This will be one of the important tasks he will press on his successor, Damri Sukhotanang.

"The investment in upstream steel smelters is necessary for our country. It is a huge project that will help sustain the steel industry and generate investment in related industries. Hence, we should build up harmonisation between steelmakers and local communities and speed up establishing steel smelters as soon as possible," he said.

Thanit Sorat, chairman of the logistics committee of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the committee was disappointed the government did not understand the necessity to develop the Southern Seaboard. It has been decades since the National Economic and Social Development Board conducted its main study on the project, but no progress has been made, he said.

"The government had better place importance on the country's long-term development plan, particularly the Southern Seaboard, which will stimulate the country's entire economy, rather than focus only on solving the rice crop's low price or building mass-transit systems in the capital," he said.

Although total applications for investment will be lower than last year, Chakramon believes the manufacturing gross domestic product this year will still achieve its target growth of 8 per cent despite the political turmoil.

"The political chaos will probably effect some industries, such as consumer products, but will hardly affect 'hard' industries like automotive sector and electronics. What I worry about more is the global economic turndown, which will directly effect exports," he said.