A preliminary environmental impact study has started at two sites in Chanthaburi and Songkhla that have been deemed promising for an upstream steel project.
The study is expected to take six months and if the cabinet approves the results, it would notify prospective investors and ask them to prepare investment plan and details on contributions the ventures would make to the communities.
Sources said the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) studies would be conducted in Ranod district of Songkhla and Laem Sing in Chanthaburi.
The site in Chanthaburi is 70% forest area that needs rehabilitation, and the remaining land was formerly a prawn farm. The location, near industrial plants that need steel products in the Eastern Seaboard, offers the site an advantage.However, additional work needs to be done to improve ship access.
The site in Songkhla offers good seaport facilities but is distant from industrial customers. It currently houses a rice farm and an old prawn farm.
According to Vikrom Vajragupta, director of the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand, the study would cover the establishment of community livelihood development programmes such as irrigation projects, water treatment and farm machinery centres to help local communities coexist with the industry.
The study on geographic features will identify if certain alterations will be needed to accommodate upstream steel manufacturing and would involve community participation.
Also part of the study will be the establishment of supporting industries such as shipbuilding or other steel-intensive industries to promote industrial cluster development.
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