A methodology for Identification and Development of Border Towns as Centres for Trade and Investment in Thailand

The benefits of globalisation and economic liberalisation, and the acceptance of the importance of trade and investment activities, have increasingly affected the role of border towns. In 1994, the Thai National Plan designated and promoted border towns as centres for trade and investment. However, without formal guidelines for identifying and developing border towns as centres for trade and investment, national grants could be allocated to the wrong border towns. This research therefore is a contribution to understanding the development and action of the Thai government's decentralisation policy that can also be applied to its neighbours in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. The three central themes of the research which determined the strategy for empirical research are the theoretical contexts of international economic theories and concepts, regional economic planning theories, and the concepts and causes of urban growth. Five border towns were chosen as the case studies; these were (1) Nong Khai, (2) Mukdahan, and (3) Chong Mek, which all share a border with Laos; (4) Mae Sai which shares a border with Myanmar, and (5) Aranyaprathet which shares a border with Cambodia. Observations, semi-structured interviews and postal questionnaires were the empirical research methods used; these techniques were used to triangulate evidence and validate data. The empirical research exercise was supplemented with documentary information on each border town surveyed. The findings give confidence that some of the five border towns are capable of developing as regional business centres (trade and investment) for the Greater Mekong Sub-region. The results of this research provide a number of criteria that could be used by policy makers and regional planners to select and rank potential growth centres at border towns, whether singly or as pairs of border towns, as well as helping to meet other government objectives relating to regional income disparity and decentralisation policy. Further, the research also identifies a number of possible policy responses by government towards the role of border towns, and indicates a number of policy responsesth at could be implemented on four different plannings patial levels: (1) internationally, (2) supra-nationally, (3) nationally, and (4) regionally (border towns). This "vertical coordination" which links international to local concerns, will assist in supporting and sustaining the growth of border towns in the best possible way. Successful border towns will be reliant on strong support from the central government, especially in allocating national budgets, in support of investment projects, and in regulating economic planning policies. Success of sustainable economic growth in border towns deals with several influences and involves, amongst other things, the good relations and cooperation of neighbouring countries. Border town planning, therefore, is complex and needs several years, at least 10 years, to succeed, but the overall outcomes from growth will be invaluable in generating growth regionally and nationally.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2005

Author dc:creator

• Kornkeuwsomneuk, Malai

Contributors dc:contributor

• Glasson, John
• Walker, Stephen

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/t192-wx48

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:5880ab2c-5ac9-4bf4-9a8e-497e79c1ccfd:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1