Thailand dusts off Kra transport link plans

Thailand has dusted off plans for a transport link that would allow ships to skip the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. 

The Southeast Asian kingdom has long touted the construction of the Kra Canal, a waterway across a narrow part of the country in the far south. 

While this extraordinarily expensive infrastructure project has been shelved, Thailand’s prime minister is keen to develop a landbridge in the same area – the Kra isthmus – with ports at either side.

The 100 km landbridge project would cost $28bn and would feature highways and rail networks with deepsea container ports in Ranong in the Andaman Sea and Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand. 

In the US, ahead of an APEC summit, Srettha Thavisin, the Thai prime minister, has been trying to drum up investor support for the project. 

Thavisin claims the project can cut travel time by an average of four days and lower shipping costs by 15%. 

“The landbridge will be an additional important route to support transportation and an important option for resolving the problems of the Malacca Strait,” Srettha told investors at a meeting in San Francisco earlier this week. “This will be a cheaper, faster and safer route.”

Srettha has also tapped investors in China and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, looking to get the project completed by 2030.