News
Thai Belt and Road project bumps into finance and liability issues
Thailand’s government is delaying China’s ambitious high-speed railway project in the country as questions over financing and liabilities of the $9.9 billion infrastructure initiative remain unresolved. Sources within Thailand’s transport sector confirmed to the Nikkei Asian Review that behind-the-scenes negotiations between Bangkok and Beijing over the ...
Marwaan Macan-Markar
Leading Thai economist blames inequality for Thailand’s ills
Thailand needs new thinking on its economy, moving away from the emphasis on growth and consumption to the quality of life rather than the quantity of things, said Pasuk Phongpaichit, Emeritus Professor in Political Economy, Chulalongkorn University. She made the remark at the Fukuoka Prize Symposium ...
Sirivish Toomgum
Panel to take charge of EEC Development Fund
The Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee (EECPC) plans to set up a management committee of the EEC Development Fund, which will monitor and make compensations to local communities affected by the mega project, in line with government policy. EECPC secretary general Kanit Sangsubhan will head the ...
Concerns rise over microplastics in stomachs of mackerel
The discovery of microplastics in the stomachs of mackerel caught in Trang Sea have raised concerns, but the 3rd Marine National Park Operation Centre urged Thais on Wednesday to refrain from panicking and shunning mackerel. The centre urged people to instead get full awareness of the ...
Laos, Malaysia and Thailand Agree to Expand a Trilateral Power Deal
Laos, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to expand a trilateral power deal, under which Lao electricity will be sold to the Malaysians via the Thai grid, Thailand’s minister of energy said Thursday. “Thailand, Laos and Malaysia achieved a new purchase deal, raising the capacity from 100 ...
'Safari tours' to cut conflict with wildlife
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has unveiled plans to develop “safari tourism” on the edge of the world-heritage Huai Kha Kheng Wildlife Sanctuary to reduce growing conflict there between humans and wildlife. Department spokesman Sompoch Maneerat said locally run safari tourism is ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
Asia Pacific Climate Week gets underway in Bangkok against backdrop of damaging floods in northern Thailand
The Asia Pacific Climate Week got underway in Bangkok today, aimed at raising global ambition and intended to “grasp the many opportunities of climate action and to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, which are becoming increasingly costly for the region,” a UN press ...
TM30: The form getting expats in Thailand into a bureaucratic tangle
Thailand has long been an attractive destination for Western expats – where money goes further and can buy a good quality of life. But the revival of an arcane immigration law has angered the expat community and got them questioning their freedoms in Thailand, as ...
Thailand to roll out 15 million new e-passports
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Thailand awarded a contract to a major consortium; it will supply 15 million e-passports during a seven-year project. This represents one of the largest passport deployments for the group worldwide, the move is designed to align with national plans to create ...
Alita Sharon
TDRI wants waste on agenda
Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has urged the government to include waste management as part of the national agenda and proposed the government ban foam usage and make consumers pay for plastic shopping bags. Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of the TDRI, said the group’s study found Thailand’s ...
Phusadee Arunmas