Thailand to set up industrial waste management industrial estate

BANGKOK, December 12 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Industry, plans to set up a new industrial waste management industrial estate, with a complete system for proper industrial waste management, over the next three years. Dr. Verapong Chaiperm, Governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), told journalists on Friday that IEAT and the Department of Industrial Works, which are both under the Ministry of Industry, will jointly sign an agreement with the Defence Industry Department by early next year to use a plot of land of over 10,000 rais (2.5 rais = 1 acre), provided by the military, to build the new industrial estate. Dr. Verapong said the policy, set to be funded by a state budget of about 20 billion baht, is part of the IEAT's celebration of its 42nd anniversary. Under the IEAT chief, the new industrial estate, once opened for services by 2017, will handle both general and hazardous industrial wastes amounting at about 3 million tonnes annually, as well as community wastes. Besides, IEAT also plans to open the Rubber City Industrial Estate in Chalung District of Songkhla Province in the Thai South by 2020 and the Airport Industrial Estate and Maintenance Centre in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in the Thai Northeast, along with more industrial estates in special economic zones of five Thai provinces, including Tak, Trat, Sa Kaeo, Songkhla and Mukdhahan. (TNA)