Once the government has earmarked a province for a special economic zone (SEZ), theoretically it means more jobs, higher incomes and a better quality of life.
But while residents of Sa Kaeo province are looking forward to their SEZ, they also have questions.
Villagers want the new industrial zone in Aranyaprathet district to be developed under the "green factory" concept since more than half the community near the future SEZ site is involved in agriculture.
The locals are hopeful the SEZ will provide them with incomes during the six months of the off-harvest season, sparing them the bother of finding jobs in the cities.
People walk past the front of Poipet Casino Resort near the Aranyaprathet-Poipet border. Much of locals' earnings end up in the casinos in Poipet. PHOTOS BY PATIPAT JANTHONG
But the project has raised unresolved issues of land ownership, says Manop Payuhasit, 43, head of tambon Ban Dan.
He says some locals are unable to produce a title deed as proof of their right to land where they have lived for generations. The government plans to expropriate vast land plots to build SEZ facilities in the coming years.
"It's been a problem for many decades, most people here having no title deeds to their land yet," says Mr Manop. "They hold only a document showing their pre-emptive right over the public lands. But the bank does not consider this collateral."
If the government leaves the land issue unsettled once the SEZ project begins, villagers in Ban Dan and tambon Pa Rai could suffer.
Mr Manop's family includes local politicians in Aranyaprathet going back three generations. The land ownership problem is nothing new.
Manop: No title deeds for most residents
"You would not believe how long we have waited for legitimate title deeds," he says. "We fought for it until a lot of people became too old and had to pass the mission to the younger generation. But the Lands Department says it is still in process."
The process starts with submitting requests to the Lands Department for land measurement. Once the document verifying the size of the land arrives, the landholder asks the authorities for a title deed.
"That should not take such a long time, but there are very few officials compared with the number of requests," says Mr Manop.
Villagers also have little money to spend on private surveyor services and are mostly in the dark about their rights under the Land Act of 1954.
The issue gained in importance 20 years ago, when the Thai government began developing infrastructure linking Sa Kaeo with the Cambodian border at Poipet to support growing trade.
Mr Smith, a long-time resident of Sa Kaeo is worried that the SEZ project could prop up land prices strongly.
The Aranyaprathet-Poipet border circulates huge sums of money, much of it ending up at Rong Kluea Market or Cambodian casinos. Aranyaprathet is also a popular route for travel to World Heritage destinations in Cambodia's Siem Reap province, which sits 150 kilometres from the border.
Villagers started to realise the effect of having only pre-emptive documents that are inadequate proof of land ownership, putting their properties at risk of state expropriation without fair compensation.
In line with increasing economic potential, investors beat a path to the area, resulting in higher land prices.
"Development brings in the capitalists," says environmental activist Smith Yensabye.
Mr Smith, 53, has lived in Sa Kaeo for a decade. He says land prices in tambon Pa Rai jumped from between 40,000 and 50,000 baht a rai to 7 million in just three years. Land near the Khlong Luek checkpoint sells for 10 million baht a rai, double the asking price in 2011.
"I'm concerned the SEZ project will support only the capitalists and rich people, as they can speculate in land while locals must still fight for their ownership over land they've lived on for many generations," he says.
Mr Smith has proposed Sa Kaeo's governor arrange a public hearing to give local residents input in development plans. He also recommends a socio-economic impact assessment.
With cooperation, Sa Kaeo's SEZ can create employment not only for Thais but also Cambodians, who can work in the border province instead of heading to Bangkok to find a job, he says.
One official in the provincial industrial office says the land issue is not a simple case of rich versus poor.
Adisak Kriengkrai-udom says the SEZ will occupy land owned by the Royal Thai Army, which has allowed people to live there. The army says the land is strictly for farm use, and that is why the residents have no title deeds.
A sign shows a map and projects to be developed along the Thai-Cambodian border. Locals have expressed concern over rising land prices as a result of growing urbanisation.
Some of them, however, have sought to make a profit by selling land that does not belong to them, offering only pre-emptive land rights.
"The areas planned for the SEZs are all military property," says Mr Adisak.
"Basically, the army has allowed them [the residents] to stay since a long time ago, but ownership still belongs to the army. So if the government wants the land back, by law it can request the villagers move out immediately."
He says 679 rai in tambon Pa Rai will be the first area developed under the government's eco-town industrial estate concept.
A trader pulls a cart through a checkpoint near the planned SEZ in Sa Kaeo province.
Sa Kaeo is one of six provinces tapped for SEZ development. A total of 4,473 rai in the province will be used, spanning Aranyaprathet and Watthana Nakhon districts.
The eastern province will also be the first testing ground for the industrial cluster initiative of the new economic team led by Somkid Jatusripitak. The plan focuses on 12 categories such as agricultural and processing, automotive and parts, and electronics.
The SEZ's first phase will be Aranyaprathet, followed by Watthana Nakhon.
"The project requires 6.6 billion baht for the two phases or 1.5 million baht a rai on average," says Mr Adisak.
"The initial phase will occur from 2017-18 and begin operations, then the second phase will start in 2019."
A young girl sits at a small road path in Poipet o'neang industrial Estate in Cambodia, which opposites a site to be developed as special economic zone in Thailand. PATIPAT JANTHONG
A man pulls a cart passing the Poipet Casino Resort. The popular hotel sits close to border checkpoint and opposite the location of Thailand's SEZ. PATIPAT JANTHONG
A vendor waits for customers in his bicycle shop at Rong Kluea Market, located not far from the planned SEZ.
Business at Rong Kluea is not so busy these days but locals are complaining about rising land prices as the area will be a location of SEZ project. PATIPAT JANTHONG
