Thailand’s trillion-baht plan to bypass the Malacca Strait moves ahead

Thailand aims to complete a 100km project bisecting the country’s southern peninsula with a new highway and rail line by 2030

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Container and cargo ships travel through the Strait of Malacca between Singapore and Malaysia. Thailand’s Landbridge project would cut shipping times between the Indian and Pacific oceans by bypassing the strait. Photo: Roy Issa

Published: 12:22pm, 24 Mar 2025

Thailand has unveiled draft legislation to create a special economic zone in the south of the country that would pave the way for a multibillion-dollar transport project linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The bill would establish a commission to speed up development of the Southern Economic Corridor in the provinces of Chumphon, Ranong, Suratthani and Nakhon Si Thammarat, according to a Transport Ministry statement.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party is proposing the so-called Landbridge project at a cost of about 1 trillion baht (US$29 billion), to link two proposed seaports on either side of the country’s southern peninsula with a new highway and rail line.

The 100km (62-mile) connection would cut shipping times between the Indian and Pacific oceans by bypassing the Malacca Strait – a narrow sea lane between Malaysia and Singapore that is one of the world’s busiest ocean routes.

The new commission, chaired by the prime minister, will be responsible for the development of logistics, infrastructure, information technology and other facilities in the specified areas, according to the draft bill. It will also be in charge of finding the money to fund the project.

The draft bill is being presented for public hearing before proceeding to the cabinet and parliament.

Srettha Thavisin, Thailand’s then-prime minister, stands in front of an infographic depicting the Landbridge project at a presentation in November 2023. Photo: Facebook/Srettha Thavisin

Former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, also from the Pheu Thai party, previously pitched the Landbridge project to overseas investors during visits to the US and China.