Thai Northeast prepares for high-speed train system

BANGKOK, October 5 (TNA) - Thailand's northeastern NongKhai province bordering Laos will become a gateway for goods transportation and tourism for people travelling between Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China in the foreseeable future, after the Thai government-sponsored new high-speed train system is launched. Speaking during the weekly TV and radio programme of Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister YingluckShinawatra on Saturday morning, Transport Minister ChadchartSittipunt said, while attending a roadshow in the northeastern NongKhai province on the government's plan to borrow 2.2 trillion baht to finance its new mega-infrastructure development projects, that the new high-speed train system will also assist about 300 million people from southern China to travel to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) faster. Chadchart told the public that the government also plans to sell Thailand's community-based products under the One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) Project and food of those provinces where the high-speed train passes. Chadchart assessed that the provinces' local economies should then become booming because more businesses are set up. Meanwhile, NongKhai Governor ViratLimsuwat acknowledged that several development plants have been mapped out, including those along the Mekong River, and aged temples have been refurbished. According to the governor, general atmosphere of NongKhai is attractive and it has been ranked the world's seventh best city by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) and he plans to, therefore, ask the government to consider naming NongKhai a city of "special green economic zone" to prepare for a close link of the overall economy of Indochinese countries, including Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, in the future. (TNA)