Land bridge a disaster in waiting

The Southern Economic Corridor is cataclysm in the making — set to scar the Andaman Coast and Gulf of Thailand in one sweep.

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It will disrupt ecosystems, cripple tourism, and erase local livelihoods in exchange for enriching investors. It must be stopped.

Instead of listening to public concerns, the Pheu Thai-led coalition — despite its shaky immediate political future — is pushing a law that would hand the South to foreign investors for 99 years.

The Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) Bill is due in parliament next month. It aims to create a massive land bridge between the Gulf and the Andaman Sea, cutting across Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Ten more provinces are expected to follow.

This one-trillion-baht mega project was born after the Kra Canal proved politically unviable. But the goal is the same: to shorten shipping routes by bypassing the Strait of Malacca.

Logistics experts have warned the cost and time to transfer cargo from one coast to the other will deter shippers. Meanwhile, Singapore's Tuas Port is set to become the world's largest fully automated shipping hub; Thailand's 90-kilometre land bridge can't compete.

Yet the government presses on. Proponents call it development. Critics call it a legal takeover of the South — its lands, coasts, forests, and seas — for the benefit of powerful investors, mainly Chinese.