Cabinet to hear plans for South

Duty-free scheme to boost ailing economy

NARATHIWAT: Development proposals aimed at boosting the economy in the three southern border provinces will be presented for approval at a mobile cabinet meeting in this southernmost border province today and tomorrow.

One of the proposals is to allow Thai citizens to buy goods at duty-free shops in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, said Chakkrit Uthensut, chief of the Sungai Kolok customs checkpoint, in a briefing to reporters visiting the checkpoint ahead of the mobile cabinet meeting.

Under the proposal, Thais will be allowed to purchase duty-free goods at border checkpoints in Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat, Betong in Yala and Nong Chik in Pattani, where one duty-free shop will open at each crossing.

If approved, holders of Thai citizen identification cards won’t have to travel across the border to Malaysia to purchase duty-free goods.

Each citizen will be allowed to purchase up to 20,000 baht worth of goods every 30 days, up to a maximum of 12 times a year.

While consumers will be exempt from paying import duties and custom tariffs under the scheme, they will still be required to pay value-added tax on the goods.

At present, only the border checkpoint in Yala’s Betong district has a duty-free shop. If the cabinet passes the proposal, the shop in Betong would be the first to participate in the duty-free scheme for Thais.

Mr Chakkrit said companies will be invited to bid for the right to run the duty-free operation at the checkpoint at Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district.

He said the shop will be located on a two-rai plot in front of the checkpoint and will be ready to open in the middle of next year if the proposal gets the nod from the cabinet.

Mr Chakkrit did not mention any plan for the duty-free shop in Pattani’s Nong Chik district.

He said the duty-free shops on the border with Malaysia are intended to stimulate the economy in the region, which has been hard-hit by the economic slump.

Narathiwat governor Ekkarat Leesen said he will present 12 development project proposals for the three southern border provinces.

The projects, he said, will cover infrastructure development, trade and investment and were designed to raise the quality of life, boost tourism and improve the management of natural resources and the environment.

Benjathip Chudam, director of strategic development and information at the Narathiwat provincial office, said that among the proposals which will be presented tomorrow is a plan to buy 1,683 rai of land to be developed as a special economic zone.

The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) will buy the land in line with a cabinet resolution reached on Nov 20, 2017, Ms Benjathip said.

The secretary-general of the SBPAC, Rear Adm Somkiat Pholprayoon, said he will ask the cabinet to consider a project to build embankments as part of efforts solve flood problems in Narathiwat, worth about 130 million baht.

Thanant Rathsornprasit, secretarygeneral of the Yala chamber of commerce, said companies in Yala will also propose projects to the cabinet, including the upgrade of Highway 410 to four lanes to attract more tourists to central Yala.

Betong district, along with Nong Chik and Sungai Kolok, is being promoted under the so-called “southern economic triangle” programme approved by the cabinet on Oct 4, 2016 to help end the southern insurgency.

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The projects .. were designed to raise locals’ quality of life and boost tourism. EKKARAT LEESEN

NARATHIWAT GOVERNOR