A bird's eye view of the 497-rai Makkasan plot which the State Railway of Thailand plans to lease to the Finance Ministry to clear its huge debts. There are legal concerns over whether the Makkasan plot, part of which was appropriated specially for use in rail system development, can be developed for other purposes, he said. The development plan for the Makkasan plot has drawn criticism from the civic sector which has called on authorities to gather public input before proceeding. At a recent seminar on development in Bangkok, participants repeated their calls and urged the government to set new standards for megaproject developments starting with the Makkasan plot. Pongprom Yamarat, of Big Tree group, said the Makkasan development project is among other multi-billion-baht projects that have raised doubts over development policies which focus on financial payoffs.

Source: Bangkok Post September 11, 2016 23:26 UTC