New ‘Riviera’ in the works

The Expressway Authority of Thailand (Exat) wants to build a 71.6-kilometre expressway that would link Samut Sakhon with Samut Prakan, under a new project called the Samut Sakhon-Samut Prakan Riviera project, a source close to the matter revealed on Wednesday.
The project — which is estimated will cost about 109.25 billion baht to complete — would see a new expressway built to link Highway 35, also known as Rama II Road, in Samut Sakhon, with Highway 34, or Bang Na-Trat Road, in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district.
According to the source, Exat wants the project, which is currently classed as a low-priority one, to be accorded higher priority by the Paetongtarn Shinawatra government.
In an effort to do so, Exat is planning to launch a new feasibility study for the project sometime in 2026-2027, the source said, adding the study will take about 1-2 years to complete.
The study has to be re-done because the initial feasibility study into the project didn’t take into account the possibility of building a railway line along the new road, which will make the project considerably more attractive to investors, the source noted.
Ultimately, the Transport Ministry wants the project to be incorporated into the Department of Highways’ (DoH) Motorway and Railway Master Plan (MR-Map), said the source.
Permanent secretary for transport, Chayatan Phromsorn, recently instructed Exat to conduct a new study into the project, because of the increasing volume of traffic on this route, said the same source.
In terms of investment format, the project is currently designed with Exat as the sole investor in charge of physical construction. Maintenance and operation, meanwhile, will be handed over to a third party through open bidding, the source said.
However, if the new study finds merit in granting the right to build, operate and maintain the expressway to a private investor, the project’s investment format will be changed accordingly, said the source.