Thailand’s military government plans to spend about 78 billion baht (1.49 billion pounds) on developing the country’s waterways infrastructure over the next 10 years, the transport minister said on Saturday.
That will include a 2.21 billion baht budget for the current fiscal year which began this month, Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong told reporters after a media briefing.
Such infrastructure includes ports, bridges and canals. Among major projects are the development of Pak Bara seaport in the southern province of Satun and a rail link from that port to a port in Songkhla province, the minister said.
The government has approved a budget of 2.4 trillion baht for overall transport infrastructure spending over the next eight years. Last week, it said it would go ahead with a $1.9 billion expansion plan at Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi Airport, as well as plans to build another three provincial airports.