Thailand mulls troubled Pattani for petchem hub

30 April 2007 05:24  [Source: ICIS news]

By Daniel Ten Kate

BANGKOK (ICIS news)--Thailand is reconsidering violence-plagued Pattani province as a possible location for a Southern Seaboard industrial zone on par with its eastern hub in Mab Ta Phut, Rayong province, an Energy Ministry spokesman told ICIS news on Monday.

"Mab Ta Phut will be the main zone, but Thailand needs a new one. Pattani was a location on the very first plan made years ago," the spokesman said.

The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the state planning agency, was expected to complete a study on the Pattani proposal within one month, he added.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had suggested Pattani as the next petrochemical hub at last week's cabinet meeting, Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand was quoted as saying in Bangkok Post.

The Prime Minister said the massive project would improve stability in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where more than 2,000 people have been killed since January 2004 in an increasingly brutal separatist insurgency.

Hundreds protested in Pattani earlier this month after soldiers shot and killed three unarmed teenagers.

The country's influential Queen has called for citizens in the three provinces to bear arms to protect themselves, a move the government supports.

The prime minister said the violence in the predominately Malay-Muslim provinces would likely end before 2008, and the industrial zone would boost the region's battered economy.

Government officials have stepped up efforts to find a new site for petrochemical investments after questions swirled about rising pollution levels in Mab Ta Phut.

Industry officials said the dispute is political, and feared that new petrochemical projects will be cancelled if officials continue to block projects in Mab Ta Phut.

The Energy Ministry spokesman said other locations in the south were still under consideration, including Sichol in Nakorn Si Thammarat province. No final decisions have been made.

A 15-year petrochemical master plan drawn up by the Petroleum Institute of Thailand calls for projects due onstream until 2015 to be built in Mab Ta Phut, while those due to come online 2016 and beyond would go to Sichol.

Industry experts said it could take up to a decade for the government to build the necessary infrastructure to accommodate a massive new petrochemical estate, including a deep-sea port, power plants and roads.

An NESDB plan drawn up 17 years ago called for developing a land bridge that would link Pattani with Satun on the Andaman coastline.

A 26-metre deep-sea port could be built in Pattani to accommodate ships up to 300,000 tonnes, while a 40-metre-deep port could be build in Satun for larger vessels.

By: Daniel Ten Kate
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