Thailand integrates database of all 76 provinces

BANGKOK, October 20 (TNA) - The government, through the Ministries of Interior and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is developing an integrated database of all 76 provinces to facilitate local administrators’ decisions on economic and social plans. The idea was deliberated in a discussion of the Interior and the ICT Ministries, held in Bangkok on Monday. The plan is on top of an earlier project of the Ministry of Interior and the National Statistical Office (NSO) that created databases of all the 76 provinces to facilitate local authorities’ decision makings on social, economic, natural resource and environmental policies. The databases cover all information on the population in all the 76 provinces, including locations of local households, the number of family members and topography. The planned database integration is expected to be later applied to enhance national competitiveness. Thailand is a unitary state, consisting of 76 provinces and an special administrative area, Bangkok. All the 76 provinces are part of the central government, while the capital is under the local government. Joining the discussion, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said, meanwhile, that a database for water management in the Chao Phraya River Basin will also be developed in 2015 to facilitate water management in the central region, including Bangkok, Chai Nat, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon Provinces. (TNA)