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127334
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 15:41
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http://m.oananews.org//node/127334
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World Bank, ADB lend US$156 million to support Thai highway projects
BANGKOK, June 11 (TNA) - Thailand's Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Phataraprasit on Friday signed a loan agreement with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund the Four-Lane Highway Widening Project (Phase II) to improve Thailand’s highway network.
The loan--the first World Bank lending to Thailand since 2003--will support the widening to four lanes from the current two lanes of five national highway sections with a total length of 216 kilometres.
The project is aimed at facilitating economic development in line with the Land Transport Department’s strategies to widen national two-lane highways to four lanes.
The expansion will help accommodate increased traffic on routes connecting to the country’s East-West Economic Corridor, Eastern Seaboard and East-West Southern Coast Corridor as well as supporting trade and economic expansion to neighbouring countries as well as tourism and investment to the country’s southern region.
The World Bank gave an additional loan of US$79.3 with ADB financing US$77.1 to Thailand’s Highways Management Project.
Once completed, the widened highways are expected to help reduce the burden on road users such as travel time and vehicle operating costs, by at least 10 per cent.
“Reducing the cost burden on road users can help bring down logistics costs and increase Thailand’s competitiveness in the long run,” said Annette Dixon, the World bank Country Director for Thailand.
The additional loan will also support a new type of infrastructure investment in Thailand, in which the public and private sectors share the financing, risks and benefits of infrastructure development, otherwise known as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Infrastructure.
From the $79.3 million, about $1.4 million will finance the preparation of a pilot public-private financing of a new intercity highway, the Ban Pa-In/Korat motorway. Stretching 198 kilometers, this new highway, which the government has been planning since 2005, would link Bang Pa-In district in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand, with the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat, Thailand's second largest city by population and the gateway to the Northeast. (TNA)
The loan--the first World Bank lending to Thailand since 2003--will support the widening to four lanes from the current two lanes of five national highway sections with a total length of 216 kilometres.
The project is aimed at facilitating economic development in line with the Land Transport Department’s strategies to widen national two-lane highways to four lanes.
The expansion will help accommodate increased traffic on routes connecting to the country’s East-West Economic Corridor, Eastern Seaboard and East-West Southern Coast Corridor as well as supporting trade and economic expansion to neighbouring countries as well as tourism and investment to the country’s southern region.
The World Bank gave an additional loan of US$79.3 with ADB financing US$77.1 to Thailand’s Highways Management Project.
Once completed, the widened highways are expected to help reduce the burden on road users such as travel time and vehicle operating costs, by at least 10 per cent.
“Reducing the cost burden on road users can help bring down logistics costs and increase Thailand’s competitiveness in the long run,” said Annette Dixon, the World bank Country Director for Thailand.
The additional loan will also support a new type of infrastructure investment in Thailand, in which the public and private sectors share the financing, risks and benefits of infrastructure development, otherwise known as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Infrastructure.
From the $79.3 million, about $1.4 million will finance the preparation of a pilot public-private financing of a new intercity highway, the Ban Pa-In/Korat motorway. Stretching 198 kilometers, this new highway, which the government has been planning since 2005, would link Bang Pa-In district in Ayutthaya province, central Thailand, with the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat, Thailand's second largest city by population and the gateway to the Northeast. (TNA)
