Thailand preps £5.6bn of highway PPPs

Thailand’s Transport Ministry has posted a new plan to use PPPs to improve connectivity and reduce traffic in Bangkok.

Thailand’s Transport Ministry has posted a new plan to use PPPs to improve connectivity and reduce traffic in Bangkok.

Under the plans, over 204km of new highway construction and widening will be delivered between Bangkok and its hinterland at a cost of around £5.6bn.

The plan specified the Ekkachai-Ban Phaeo motorway, Rangsit-Bang Pa-in motorway, Srinagarindra-Suvarnabhumi airport motorway, stretches of the northern expressway and the Chalong Rat expressway.

Earlier this year, Thailand put forward a $5.3bn megaproject pipeline, including metro lines and other mass transit systems. At the time the country’s State Enterprise Policy Office director general Pantip Sripimol said that PPP will “reduce investment constraints from the fiscal budget and government loans as well as enhance efficiency”.

The government is planning for construction to begin as soon as next year, with 2027 eyed for completion.