Thai $6.9bn rail project: consortium will be announced by January

The consortium that will build a $6.9 billion high-speed rail link in Thailand, connecting three international airports, will be announced by January according to Bloomberg.

The Eastern Economic Corridor Office, the agency overseeing the plan, has 31 firms, mostly from Thailand, China and Japan, studying the project’s terms.

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The rail link will run between Bangkok’s two international airports and another near the tourist hot-spot of Pattaya, the U-Tapao International Airport in Rayong.

In May this year, the Thai government announced plans to create a new ‘Special Economic Zone’; a 13,285 sq. km area searing through the eastern seaboard provinces of Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Rayong, where a number of large-scale investments are to be undertaken.

Through these efforts to transform the logistical infrastructure in its most important districts, alongside some attractive tax incentives, the country is courting business from the world’s biggest companies with at least 1.5trn worth of public and private Thai Baht ($43bn) expected to be spent on the EEC over the next five years.