FRESH START
Pattani gets economic boost
Travelling along the route from Hat Yai in Songkhla to Pattani, one cannot help but notice the stark contrast between the two provinces — with packed buildings slowly vanishing into a verdant landscape of forests stretching endlessly along the road, and houses coming into view only once in a while.
It took around one and a half hours to travel from Hat Yai International Airport to Pattani. In Pattani, the scenery is no different from what one can see elsewhere in rural areas throughout Thailand.
The district that connects Songkhla and Pattani is Nong Chik, an agricultural town in Pattani province. This tiny town, which also stretches along the Gulf of Thailand, has been chosen as one of the three focal areas of the government’s development scheme designed to uplift the condition of locals in the southern border provinces.
In Nong Chik and Pattani, the general atmosphere, though dimmed from the prolonged years of conflict, seems calm and placid, with carefree locals in traditional garb walking along the streets.
The ambience is different from what has been portrayed in mainstream media, with bloodshed and violence repeatedly making the headlines.
At night, the picture is similar to what can be seen in rural areas in other part of the country: local food stalls, with mostly tea and roti shops occupying the streets. Driving past the main road, you notice the smiles on friendly faces travelling casually on motorcycles. The scenery will leave you wondering what Pattani could have been without all the violence.
“When there are no incidents, we just get on with our lives,” said a local woman.
Despite what we’ve seen in the media throughout 14 years of prolonged violence, the local people seem determined to get on with their lives normally.
Nong Chik district is considered the gateway to the deep South because there are highways that connect the district to Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat. However, the prolonged years of violence resulted in economic stalemate undermining the livelihood and well-being of the people in the area. There is little investment. Tourism and trade are also stagnant due to the situation.
Nong Chik, with its strength in agriculture, has been designated as a prototype “agricultural industrial city” — one of the three districts under the “Secure, Prosperous, Sustainable Triangle” project approved by the cabinet in October last year.
The scheme designates three special development areas encompassing Nong Chik district, drawing a line that stretches to include Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province, then Betong in Yala province, It constitutes a full triangle, hence the name of the project.
The project aims to encourage investment from the private sector, creating jobs and raising incomes in the local area.
Economic development is expected to alleviate violence and stabilise the situation in the area in the long term. It also aims to uplift livelihoods and generate secure jobs and incomes for locals. This consequently will make the provinces safer. The effort is also believed to be a contributing factor in addressing the deep-rooted conflict in the region and could lay the foundation for further social and economic development in the next stage.
For the Triangle project, the cabinet approved a budget of 5 billion baht for 2017-20, with 300 million baht for 17 pilot projects for this year.
In 2017 and 2018, the infrastructure and microeconomy will be developed first, while in