Mae Sot luminaries share bold vision
The private sector in the Mae Sot special economic zone (SEZ) is calling for more support from the government to help transform the area into a metropolis similar to Hong Kong, arguing that neighbouring Myawaddy has the potential to be the next Macau.
Development of new infrastructure, such as a second friendship bridge between Mae Sot and Myawaddy and the expansion of Mae Sot airport, is expected to proceed over the next few years, but some tweaks in regulations are still needed to properly manage the SEZ.
One of the first steps to actualising the metropolis is to combine Mae Sot municipality from an area of only 27 square kilometres with Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO) into a self-governing municipal area as recommended by Amnart Nantaharn, chairman of the Tak Special Economic Development Zone Office.
“Once the amount of money coming in increases and more people come in, the sharing of profit and utility through and from the central command will not be feasible via normal practices,” Mr Amnart told about 130 investors and attendees at a weekend CLMVT (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand) forum held by Post Today and Asset Pro Management at Centara Mae Sot Hill Resort.
Bangkok and Pattaya are the only special municipal areas in the country.
“Sometimes it [utility and budget] is manageable, but the lags and coordination problems caused by distance would delay the development of the city,” Mr Amnart.
For example, since the Mae Sot municipality has only one waste management facility it cannot wait for central approval to increase its waste management budget to deal with an ever-growing population and accumulation of waste.
Mr Amnart said that even the Pattaya special municipal area, with its closer proximity to the capital, is still not working in accord with the Pattaya Act because the management style and local administration in Thailand are “not going at the same pace”.
“Mae Sot is currently an egg yolk inside a shell but the rest of Thailand and foreigners believe that Mae Sot is very big. We recommend the combination of the municipality area and Tha Sai Luat SAO to gain access the Moei River, and transform into one special municipal area,” he said.
“Many sides have already agreed in principle to the proposal,” Mr Amnart said, adding that the Federation of Thai Industry in Tak province is already on board with the idea.
He also recommended a revision of the Interior Minster’s latest announcement on town planning to better facilitate investment and construction in the 14 districts of Mae Sot as the temporary restrictions do not allow for building expansions that are more than 500 square metres until in the new town planning is in place.
“That is way too small to build anything,” Mr Amnart said.
The old town planning regulations have been cancelled by the absolute power of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha under Section 44 to declare the special economic zone that resulted in the acquisition of land in the designated areas.
Some of the 2,000 rai that have been acquired for industrial districts are actually housing areas which cannot be developed.
Meanwhile, Tak deputy governor Sutta Saiwanich revealed to the Bangkok Post that the second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, worth 3.9 billion baht, directly connecting Mae Sot to Yangon is already finished.
The construction of the road leading up to the bridge and the border checkpoints are still underway and the bridge should be operational within two years.
The government is also planning to connect Tak and Mae Sot via a new four-lane road within the next three years, which could shorten the travelling time from two hours down to 45 minutes.
The Transport Ministry is also conducting a feasibility study on a railway and tunnel connecting Mae Sot to Tak and eventually connect to the northern rail line, which is connected to the Laem Chabang airport.
The rail connection is expected to be complete within the next five years.
The expansion of the airport to accommodate more visitors from the current capacity of 100 people to around 500 people and the extension of its runways from 1,500 meters to 2,600 meters in order to be able handle jet planes, especially from Yangon, is expected to be done within the next three years.
“That would mean that you can travel from Yangon to Mae Sot within 45 minutes,” the deputy governor said.