Around 1,000 people demonstrated yesterday against a planned new deepsea port to be built on a stunning part of Thailand’s Andaman Sea coastline.
The Pak Bara deepsea port is part of a planned railway-highway land bridge to link the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
The Transport Ministry plans to link the new port in Satun province on the Andaman coast with a port in Songkhla province facing the Gulf of Thailand. The infrastructure development is being touted by authorities as a Malacca Straits alternative.
The port faces plenty of local opposition however as there are concerns it could harm the nearby Mu Ko Phetra National Park, a source of local food and major tourism income.
First suggested in 1993, the Pak Bara port project has been put on hold several times due to environmental concern and opposition from locals. A strategic environmental assessment is set to be released next April.
The first step towards the Kra Canal maybe?
that was my thoughts too andy — the good ol’ kra canal never quite disappears as a news story!