Reclaimed royal land will be used for makeshift prisons, low-income housing
The Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it has taken back more than 100,000 rai of land owned by the Royal Property Bureau and will redistribute it among prisons and low-income people.
Director-general Yutthana Yimkarun said most of the 100,000-rai taken back from state agencies was either left unused or was being misused. The land will now be used for temporary prisons, inmate training sites and housing for low-income people.
The Treasury Department currently oversees some 500,000 rai of royally owned land.
The department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Corrections Department to use some of the newly claimed land to build makeshift prisons to ease congestion. These new prisons will also include vocational training sites to help inmates develop new skills.
Yutthana said the department has also signed an agreement with the Government Housing Bank (GH Bank) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) to build homes for low-income people.
“The department will also allocate some of the land for the Royal Thai Police Bureau to build homes for junior officers. Another 500 rai or so in Samut Prakan’s Bang Ping area will be allocated to the Department of Physical Education to build sports complexes, football fields and stadiums for local and international competitions. This project will cost about 7 to 8 billion baht.
“The department has regularly leased land to people for building homes or farming. More than 10,000 rai was allocated to more than 4,000 households this year alone,” Yutthana added.
