Thailand: PM mulls canal plan but army brooks no delay

• Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and Office of the National Security Council (NSC) to look into a proposed canal project connecting the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea.
• The so-called “Thai Canal” project concerns the so-called “9A” canal route.
• It would run from Krabi in the Andaman to Trang and stretch further to Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla, next to the Gulf of Thailand.
• The 120-kilometre canal and the specific 9A route are being pushed by the Thai Canal Association (TCA), a group composed of supporters, local businessmen, industrialists and retired officials.
• Former 2nd Army Region commander Thawatchai Samutsakorn, also vice president of the Thai Canal Association (TCA), a group composed of supporters, local businessmen, industrialists and retired officials, said it would complement the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project now being driven by the Prayut administration.
• According to Gen Thawatchai, a group of Chinese investors have reached a deal with the TCA to support the project.

External Link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1566698/pm-mulls-canal-plan-but-army-brooks-no-delay