Published on 19/06/2014
BoI move boosts confidence
Prayuth: Giving the nod to major projects The Board of Investment (BoI), chaired by junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, yesterday approved major projects worth 120 billion baht in a move to allow pending projects worth 700 billion to proceed to help restore investor confidence. At its first meeting since the BoI's main board was appointed early this month, 18 projects worth nearly 123 billion baht were approved. ACM Prajin Juntong, deputy chief of the National Council for Peace and Order, was also present at the meeting. The biggest project in terms of value is Toyota Motor Thailand's investment package worth 51.5 billion baht for the production of 570,000 pickup trucks at the Japanese car maker's plants in Samut Prakan and Chachoengsao provinces. SAIC Motor-CP Co, a joint venture of the China-based car maker SAIC Motor Corporation and Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, was approved for a project worth 9.2 billion baht to produce 52,000 passenger cars. The factory will be located in Chon Buri province. Others include LLIT (Thailand)'s 18.9-billion-baht project to produce 11.2 million tyres, Posco Coated Steel (Thailand)'s manufacturing of 450,000 tonnes of coated steel for 10 billion baht and SuperNap's data centre production worth 6.9 billion baht.
"Today's board approval sends a positive signal for the investment climate in Thailand, not only allowing investors to proceed with their pending projects but also attracting more investment for the second half of the year," said BoI secretary-general Udom Wongviwatchai. The progress of the BoI's project approval will stimulate growth in the rest of the year and also drive development of supporting industries while creating several thousand jobs from next year on, added Mr Udom. In a related development, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) said investors from Europe and Asia had continued to express interest in Thailand, particularly in the automobile, machinery, electronics and electrical appliances, recycling, food and beverage, iron and steel, construction, and packaging sectors. Investors prefer locations around Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard, while the IEAT has developed industrial estates in the central, eastern and northeastern regions to serve foreign investors.