Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday reiterated his opposition to the idea of digging a canal that traverses the southern isthmus, saying it would pose a threat to national sovereignty.
A plan to forge a canal linking the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand resurfaced this week when National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) members, including Gen Harn Leenanon, ex-commander of the 4th Army Region and chief project adviser, submitted a new proposal to the premier.
The group avoided using the term Kra Canal -- the name bandied about since a water link across the Kra isthmus was first suggested in 1677 -- but the basic idea was the same.
The newly proposed canal project would span a total of 135km and link Songkhla in the Gulf of Thailand to Krabi off the Andaman Sea via Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang provinces.
The project would aim to save time and money for ships travelling between the Indian and Pacific oceans.
The route has been named the "9A" route and will shorten the trade route between the two coasts.
Canals would be 350-400m wide and 30m deep.
Currently vessels navigate around the Malaysian peninsula and through the perilous Malacca Straits.
The prime minister did not say yesterday whether he had received the proposal, but said separating the country with a canal in the South would give separatist insurgents momentum in their quest to break off the three southernmost provinces into their own state.
The general said that separatists could expand their land grab from the border to neighbouring provinces if they were cut off from Thailand by a waterway.
Meanwhile, Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakorn, an NRSA member, took a team to explain the proposed megaproject to the press yesterday.
He urged the government to allow a study on the project.
"Why don't we add another question in the Aug 7 referendum on whether people want the canal project or not?" he said.
He and his team will visit the proposed project area from Friday to Sunday.