Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula on Friday recommended that container yards help develop the northeastern province of Udon Thani into a trade centre for the Northeast.
Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula makes his point about Udon Thani while opening a money exposition there on Friday. (Photo by Yutthapong Kumnodnae)
The deputy prime minister, who supervises economic affairs, was in Udon Thani to open a finance exposition. There he said that he saw the future of Udon Thani as more than a location for industrial estates. The province could become the centre of the region because a double-tracked railroad would reach it in the future, he said.
If Udon Thani had an intermodal yard where freight containers can be shifted between trains and trucks quickly, the province could become a trade centre, he said.
If that happened, people of Udon Thani could make their livings from trade and the value of trade in the province would outnumber the value of local industries, MR Pridiyathorn said.
Udon Thani governor Nopawat Singsakda said the gross domestic product of Udon Thani amounted to 94 billion baht yearly, the third-highest GDP among northeastern provinces after Nakhon Ratchasima and Khon Kaen, and the 25th biggest GDP among all provinces in the country.
The per-capita annual income in Udon Thani was 75,000 baht and it was likely to increase steadily due to the growth of trade, investment, production and service businesses in the province, the governor said.
The per capita income of northeasterners stood at 48,000 baht per year, he said.