Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Policy Committee today approved the draft joint venture contract for the development of the 290-billion baht Eastern Airport City and U-Tapao airport project.
The project is one of the five Public-Private-Partnership infrastructure projects inside the EEC.
EEC Policy Committee secretary-general, Mr. Kanit Sangsuphan, said today that the draft joint venture contract, already vetted by the Office of the Attorney-General, will be forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration, after which a contract will be signed between the Royal Thai Navy, the owner of the land, and the BBS Consortium (BTS Group Holding, Bangkok Airways Pcl and Sino-Thai Engineering), tentatively planned for June.
“We have been working for more than a year to get to this stage,” said Mr. Kanit, as he hailed the EEC Policy Committee’s approval of the draft contract, adding that this infrastructure project, and the high-speed train project linking U-Tapao with Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, will form the backbone of the EEC projects.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which is wreaking havoc worldwide, especially on aviation, he predicted that the industry will pick up in the next two years.
The Eastern Airport City and U-Tapao airport project occupies 1,040 hectares of land, which will house the third passenger terminal, aviation maintenance centre, free trade zone, an air cargo and logistics centre, a commercial centre, a ground transport facility and an aviation training centre.
The project is forecast to generate 15,600 jobs annually for the first five years and total revenues estimated at 1.3 trillion baht throughout the 50-year term of the contract.
