Cabinet okay to be sought for new Bangkok, Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi expressway link
The Expressway Authority of Thailand (ETA) will propose the first stage of the Chalong Rat-Nakhon Nayok-Saraburi expressway project this month once it gets the go-ahead from the economic advisory council on Wednesday.
ETA governor Surachet Laophulsuk was speaking to reporters on Tuesday after ETA completed a second public hearing on the first phase of the expressway project.
The plan is to build a 19.25-kilometre-long expressway linking the Chalong Rat elevated expressway to Bangkok’s third ring road dubbed MR10. The budget for this project is 33.4 billion baht.
Surachet said the ETA is confident the project will be endorsed by the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) once it submits the public hearing results on Wednesday.
He said the project should be endorsed because it will help ease the traffic by also linking to the Highways Department’s Bangkok-Kanchanaburi motorway.
Once the project gets the NESDC okay, ETA will forward it to the Cabinet for approval before a royal decree is issued to expropriate land, Surachet said.
He added that the drafting of the royal decree will take about a month and its enactment will take another six months.
Meanwhile, land will be expropriated over 2024-2025 and construction will take 36 months.
Of the 33.4 billion baht earmarked, 7.3 billion baht will be spent on land expropriation, he said.
He added that the project’s net value at present is 29.47 billion baht and the benefit-cost ratio is 2.34 times, while its economic internal rate of return (EIRR) is 19.57%, much higher than the 12% EIRR requirement set by the NESDC.
The ETA governor added that the project’s environment impact assessment was also approved by the National Natural Resources and Environmental Commission last year.
A source from the advisory firm for the project said 950 rai of land will have to be expropriated for the first stage of the project.
The new expressway will link to the Chalong Rat elevated expressway at the Chatuchote gate across the Kanchanapisek eastern ring road, Hathai Rat and Nimit Mai roads before it returns to the ground level at the rest area of the expressway at kilometre marker 11+0404. The road will then elevate again across Klong Kao Road before turning north to connect with Lam Luk Ka Road near the lower Klong Kok Wa Road in Pathum Thani. The first stage will end at the linking point with the MR10 motorway at the Klong Sib subdistrict in Bangkok’s Nong Chok district.
