Thailand Infrastructure News Issue 8 15 January 2019 www.pwc.com/th Disclaimer This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors. © 2019 PricewaterhouseCoopers FAS Ltd. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the Thailand member firm, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. PwC Thailand l January 2019 2 Headlines Thailand to promote single-window clearance system for border trade Amata eyes Yangon for next foreign play Cabinet OKs land use for airport rail BoI gears up to snare aerospace investors for U-tapao MRO takes centre stage as sector expands PwC Thailand l January 2019 3 Headlines Brown Line monorail gets nod under PPP framework NOD TO BROWN LINE Udon to push for 'dry port' development High-speed rail needs help to make an impact Phuket seeks tram bidders PwC Thailand l January 2019 4 Headlines Thai-Chinese high-speed rail opened up to foreign finance Local train manufacturing plant on agenda MRTA to call bids for Phuket mass transit in Q3 BoI to focus on rail and cruise ship port investment Govt takes investment roadshow to Japan PwC Thailand l January 2019 5 Headlines Debate on CP rail-link offer today PwC Thailand l January 2019 6 Thailand to promote single-window clearance system for border trade 02 January 2019 IN a push for digital transformation within the Asean region, member countries will join forces to implement the Asean Single Window (ASW) for all 10 nations in the trade bloc by the end of next year. At the beginning of this year, five Asean countries – Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia – launched the ASW. The ASW aims to integrate the different national single-window systems of the Asean countries in order to expedite cargo clearance and boost cross-border trade via enabling the electronic exchange of trade-related documents among Asean member “As chair of Asean in 2019, Thailand will facilitate the development of the ASW in the remaining five Asean countries – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Brunei,” said Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations under the Commerce Ministry. “Our aim is achieve a fully complete ASW system for all 10 Asean members by the end of 2019,” she continued in an interview with The Nation. “The tariffs on goods imposed between different Asean countries have been reduced to nearly 0 per cent. Our next goal is to ensure a faster and more effective physical flow of goods between the Asean members, specifically, through pushing for the development of the ASW digital system in 2019,” Auramon explained. Before the ASW is implemented, goods that are being traded among Asean countries will need a physical certificate of origin, called Form D, to benefit from the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta). However, there are various border posts in the Asean region that lack the authority to approve these certificates, causing goods to be delayed and idle at the border for up to 10 days before they are approved by authorities, she said. “The ASW will digitise the Form D. We expect the use of an electronic Form D through the ASW gateway will reduce the waiting time for goods at the borders down to only one to three days,” she said. “As chair of the Asean summits in 2019, we aim to complete the development of the ASW for all 10 Asean countries, facilitating the development of the necessary digital and technological infrastructure in the five remaining Asean members,” she stated. Cambodia, Philippines and Brunei are now at the testing stage in the development, according to Auramon. “The ASW system is expected to boost cross-border trade and allow Thailand to achieve its targeted bilateral trade value with different Asean members in 2019 and 2020,” she said. In the first 10 months of 2018, Thai-Cambodia trade value reached $6.938 billion (Bt225.61 billion), with the aim to reach an annual value of $15 billion (Bt487.76 billion) by 2020. The Thai-Laos trade value for the first 10 months of this year was at $5.611 billion, with the aim to reach an annual value of $11 billion in 2021. The Thai-Myanmar trade value stood at $6.367 billion from January to October and is projected to reach an annual value of $12 billion in 2022, according the Department of Trade Negotiations. Thailand aims to push for more connectivity within the region as the next host of the Asean summits next year,” said Sakon Varanyuwatana, Thailand’s Vice Minister of Commerce. “This includes encouraging the development of cross-border logistics to reduce transportation costs for exporting businesses within the region, and to improve trade regulations between countries to allow for more convenience in trade,” he said. Meanwhile, Thailand aims to accelerate its own Thailand 4.0 initiative to promote the growth of technological and digital industries through developing the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) special economic zone. The zone includes the provinces of Chon Buri, Chachoengsao and Rayong. The Board of Investment of Thailand (BoI) has set a total investment target of up to Bt300 billion by the end of 2018 in the EEC. In the first nine months of this year, Bt230.55 billion has been invested in the EEC, showing an increase of up to 117 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to BoI secretary-general Duangjai Asawachintachit. The five key infrastructure investment projects in the EEC are: high-speed railway; expansion of U-Tapao airport; expansion of Laem Chabang seaport and Map Ta Phut seaport; and aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, with their combined investment estimated at Bt650 billion. Transport Minister Arkhom Termpitt-ayapaisith said these key investment projects would be completed in the next five to six years and a digital park project will be completed in 2022. Source: THE NATION http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30361253 PwC Thailand l January 2019 7 Amata eyes Yangon for next foreign play 3 January 2019 Amata VN Plc, a subsidiary of SET-listed industrial estate developer Amata Corporation, plans to develop a 50-square-kilometre plot in Yangon as its second foreign industrial estate in 2019. Amata VN is conducting a feasibility study to allocate budget for the first phase of the industrial estate in Myanmar's biggest city. In this phase, the company plans to build all related infrastructure to prepare for future investors. Mrs Somhatai is looking at a second foreign estate. Somhatai Panichewa, president and chief executive, said Amata VN will develop the project in the first half of 2019, dependent on Myanmar's political environment. "The plot is located in northern Yangon," Mrs Somhatai said. "This project will be 10 times larger than the [nearby] Thilawa special economic zone.“ She said the first phase is focused on sectors that industry is trying to make greener, such as electronics, garments and textiles, which require a great deal of manpower. Amata VN also aims to develop an industrial estate near Vientiane, focused on Chinese investors and Amata customers from Thailand seeking to expand in Laos. Laos would be the third foreign industrial estate under Amata VN's operation. "We will start to acquire the land plot and allocate the budget for the industrial estate's infrastructure in 2019," Mrs Somhatai said. "Both projects in Myanmar and Laos will use business models similar those in Thailand to develop the industrial estate as an eco-friendly concept.“ For Amata's first foreign industrial estate in Vietnam, the company will increase spending in 2019 for all three locations: Amata City Bien Hoa, Amata City Halong and Amata City Long Thanh. In 2018, Amata VN budgeted 3.4 billion baht for development of infrastructure at the three locations. "We aim to complete our investment in all neighbouring countries of Thailand because those countries are developing countries with new foreign investment flows, so they are high-potential locations for Amata's investment," Mrs Somhatai said. In addition, the Vietnamese government has developed a large seaport in Da Nang to serve transport flows connecting to the South China Sea, she said. The major investors at all three locations in Vietnam are Japanese companies, and they are also clients at Amata locations in Thailand. Amata VN expects 2018 revenue growth of 5-10% from 1.17 billion baht in 2017, all from Vietnamese operations. Source: Bangkok Post https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1604546/amata-eyes-yangon-for-next-foreign-play PwC Thailand l January 2019 8 Cabinet OKs land use for airport rail Expropriation of 850 rai in Bangkok, 3 provinces 3 January 2019 The cabinet on Wednesday approved a royal decree to expropriate 850 rai of land in 20 tambons (subdistricts) in three provinces and one district in Bangkok for construction of the 220-km high-speed railway linking Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-tapao airports. According to government spokesman Buddhipongse Punnakanta, studies by consultants hired by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) have proposed that the government needs to expropriate land for the high-speed rail development in Lat Krabang district of Bangkok and 20 tambons in Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Rayong, including a combined 850 rai and 245 buildings. Related agencies such as the Finance, Interior and Transport ministries were assigned to conduct details of the land expropriation, as well as estimate expropriation costs. The high-speed railway linking the three major airports is one of the most vital infrastructure projects to serve the government's much-touted Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme.