The Board of Investment (BOI) has approved four mega-investment projects worth 200 billion baht in total, ranging from the development of the Orange Line electric rail system to new data centre businesses.
The new railway is aimed at further developing key infrastructure and facilitating mass transit in Bangkok, while data centres will help to drive the digital economy in Thailand.
During its meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira on Monday, the BOI resolved to grant investment incentives to Bangkok Expressway and Metro Plc, which is developing the Orange Line with a budget of 109.2 billion baht, said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary-general of the BOI.
The 35.9-kilometre railway line is a mix of underground and elevated tracks, stretching from Bang Khun Non in Western Bangkok to Min Buri district in the east of the capital.
The Orange Line will connect with existing rail systems in the city.
The BOI also approved investment incentives for three data centre projects.
GSA Data Centre 02 Co, a joint venture between Gulf Energy Development, Singapore Telecommunications and Advanced Info Service, is allocating 13.5 billion baht to build a data centre with an IT load of 35 megawatts in Chon Buri.
Beijing Haoyang Could Data Technology will invest 72.7 billion baht to develop a data centre facility which requires 300MW of electricity in Rayong province.
Singapore-based Empyrion Digital will spend 4.72 billion baht setting up a data centre in Bangkok with an IT load of 12MW.
"Data centres are another key infrastructure to serve businesses in the digital economy as well as the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology," said Mr Narit.
These three new investment projects will ensure that access to services provided by data centres and cloud technology will be better and more stable.
"Their important data will be collected and processed in Thailand, which is good in terms of data security," said Mr Narit.
