DP World CEO to meet Thai PM for talks on THB1-trn land bridge
World’s fourth-largest port operator seeking investment in mega-project to link Indian Ocean with Pacific
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Port World (DP World), will meet with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on July 1 for talks on investment in Thailand’s land bridge mega-project, said Deputy PM and Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit on Tuesday.
The talks come after Srettha invited DP World to invest in Thailand’s 1-trillion-baht land bridge at the World Economic Forum 2024 in January.
DP World operates 82 ports in 40 countries, with over 70,000 cargo ships per year accounting for 10% of global container transport. It is a subsidiary of Dubai World, a global holding company based in the United Arab Emirates. DP World is ranked the globe’s fourth largest port operator by Yahoo! Finance.
The land bridge mega-project features construction of deep seaports in Chumphon and Ranong along with land transport routes linking the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea.
The land bridge is expected to help ease the shipping bottleneck in the Malacca Straits, currently the main regional trade route.
DP World granted 200 million baht to the Thai government in 2008 to conduct a feasibility study on developing an Andaman port as well as a land bridge to the Thai Gulf, Suriya said. In May 2008, DP World’s CEO signed an MOU with then transport minister Santi Promphat under Samak Sundaravej's People's Power-led government.
The Transport Ministry is due to present a draft Southern Economic Corridor Act to the Cabinet in September, to serve as a development driver for the land bridge project that offers legal clarification, investment privileges and tax benefits to investors.
The act is expected to be passed by 2025 while bidding for the project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2026.
According to this timeline, construction will begin in late 2026 and the land bridge will open in 2030.
The estimated 1 trillion-baht budget is divided into:
- 330.81 billion baht for development of the Ranong (Andaman) port
- 305.66 billion baht for development of the Chumphon (Thai Gulf) port
- 358.51 billion baht for routes connecting the two ports, including intercity highway and railway, as well as land development in related areas
The land bridge should offer more than a 10% internal rate of return annually, according to an initial study by the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning. It should also boost annual GDP growth of the South from the current 2% to 10% for at least 10 years, the study found.
