New Land Bridge hits speed bump

Key facts

• Researchers from Chulalongkorn University's Transportation Institute have raised concerns over the government's proposed Land Bridge project, saying it may struggle to compete with regional shipping routes and could fail to generate the expected economic returns without extensive industrial development.
• The concerns were raised at a forum titled "Landbridge: Perspectives on the Future of Thailand's Transportation and Logistics" held on Thursday at the CU Social Innovation Hub in Bangkok.
• The event, organised by the transport institute and nine other research organisations, aimed to encourage discussion on the project's economic viability, environmental impacts and policy implications.
• The private sector is being invited to invest 900 billion baht in the Land Bridge project to connect the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea with ports, roads, railway tracks and pipelines through the southern provinces of Chumphon and Ranong.
• Sompong Sirisoponsilp, a transport and logistics specialist with the university, said the proposal, pushed by the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP), was designed mainly as a transhipment hub rather than a gateway port serving Thai exports.