Plans to Turn Ban Bong Tee in Kanchanaburi Into a Commercial Border Pass
10/5/98
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Title: Plans to Turn Ban Bong Tee in Kanchanaburi Into a Commercial
Border Pass
Source: The Bangkok Post
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/5/98
Byline: Preecha Srisathan
Local businessmen have been lobbying hard to realise their dream of
turning the sleepy village of Ban Bong Tee in Kanchanaburi into a bustling
commercial border pass as part of the Western Seaboard mega-project.
An active Karen community of 500, the village bordering Burma is
opening up to the world under a joint trade agreement secured at the
request of the Burmese government.
With the green light from Rangoon, the winds of change are blowing in Ban
Bong Tee's direction. The village will provide the region with a new
passage for trade and tourism to the Andaman Sea.
Thai businesses reportedly resorted to heavy lobbying in order to
materialise the Bong Tee plan backed by the National Economic and
Social Development Board.
Bong Tee will gain the status of a temporary border pass functioning as
the "thrust" of the Western Seaboard project.
The seaboard encompassing six provinces - Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi,
Phetchaburi, Samut Songkhram, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Chumphon - will
help accelerate industrial, agricultural, commercial and tourism
development in Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, as well as Asia-
Pacific countries.
The plan, however, is impossible without a 110-kilometre road to be built
connecting Bong Tee with a deep-sea port in Tavoy, south of Burma.
The port facilities are designed to serve large freighters weighing over
200 billion metric tons.
A study by the NESDB has found that the port will shorten the sea
transport route from Thailand to Europe by up to six days and thus save
over 30 percent on delivery cost.
Current routes originating from Gulf of Thailand ports must go around
peninsula Malaysia.
Goods unloaded at Tavoy port will be transported on the Tavoy-Ban Bong Tee
road to be hooked up with a network of highways to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Thailand also stands to benefit from the road as it offers a more direct
alternative into Burma than those originating from Tak's Mae Sot district
and Ranong.
Designated within the seaboard area are the Tavoy sea port and three main
industrial estates: Tha Muang, Kanchanaburi, to accommodate heavy
industries; Bong Tee, for smaller industries using local labour; and
Tavoy, for the continuing phase of the production.
Apart from its economic potential, Bong Tee also has historical
significance for being an old trade route. It also lies on a path which
leads to ancient battle sites.
The village is a stone's throw from the Burmese border with the
Tenasserim mountain range as the natural demarcation.
Bong Tee comprises the small villages of Ban Bong Tee Bon and Ban
Tai Muang. Over 80 percent of the population are Karens who make
a living by farming.
Traditionally, the trade exchanges through Ban Bong Tee were mostly logs,
livestock, and daily necessities. But ironically, the village was not
recognised by authorities of the two countries as an official commercial
channel.
The reason Bong Tee is to be established as a proper border pass is mainly
because of its geographical advantage. It is 27 kilometres from the
nearest Sai Yok district and only 5.2 kilometres from the border.
The point at Hin Kong in neighbouring Thong Phaphum district which
authorities first thought could rival Ban Bong Tee was deemed "unfit" by
Rangoon which fears a sabotage attempt against the Yadana gas pipeline
laid in the area.
It would also be costly building a road in Thong Phaphum because of the
district's rugged terrain and mountains.
Another option which is to develop the Three-Pagoda Pass was ruled
out for the reason that parts of the border lacked a clear division and
were prone to attack by anti-Rangoon Mon guerrillas.
Bong Tee will have the necessary administrative centres such as the
customs unit, and the livestock quarantine house to be constructed on 500
rai of public land.
Some 50 million baht from the central fund is to be distributed for
infrastructure development.