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General News
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2007-01-26 22:29:47-05
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Govt boosts Bangkok, Southern Seaboard mass transit systems
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BANGKOK, Jan 27 - The government fully supports further development of an integrated mass transit system in the Thai capital and its outskirts, as well as the much delayed Southern Seaboard project, and hopes to attract foreign investment, Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula said on Saturday. Pridiyathorn, also finance minister, said investor confidence will improve following the government's recent announcement that it will push for full implementation of all three mass transit systems this year -- the electric light rail underground and overground system (both the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand or MRTA 'subway', and the BTS 'Skytrain' system of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) rail system on Bangkok's outskirts. The construction and property industries should grow, Pridiyathorn said, as investors gain a better picture of the government's plan, while the Ministry of Industry has also submitted its Southern Seaboard project, for which there was a feasibility study conducted some years ago. "I believe that the Southern Seaboard would be the largest project to be implemented by this government," Pridiyathorn said. "It could majorly boost investor interest. The current Eastern Seaboard is now too crowded and can't be expanded any further." The designated area to be served by the Southern Seaboard project should become clearer within a few months of a committee being appointed because a sufficient feasibility study had already been made. On Thailand's economic growth in 2007, the finance minister said although the Bank of Thailand (BoT) had cut its growth forecast by a half-percentage point to 4-5 per cent, several positive factors are still seen, for example, exports which would benefit from capital reserve requirement imposed by the central bank last month. The BoT had made the right move because Thai exports would have been hurt badly due to the Thai baht's appreciation of more than 17 per cent while the currencies of Thailand's neighbours grew only 7 per cent, he added. (TNA)
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