A proposed 196km motorway project connecting Bangkok with Nakhon Ratchasima will be tabled for cabinet approval next month, Deputy Transport Minister Prasert Chanruangthong says.
Pheu Thai MPs in the northeastern province have been pushing for the planned 64-billion-baht motorway, running from Nakhon Ratchasima to Bang Pa-in, just north of Bangkok. He called the proposed route a New Year's gift for residents in the Northeast.
Mr Prasert said the project would be put before cabinet next month.
The Transport Ministry and the Highways Department were ready to start construction of the motorway, he said. It would take four years to complete.
The ministry will hold another round of public hearings this month on the proposed motorway exits, Mr Prasert said. Residents living near areas earmarked for motorway exits in Pak Chong district and at kilometre marker two on the bypass road in Muang district have opposed the project, he said.
The department had already surveyed the exit route at kilometre marker 2, but residents want it moved to an area between kilometre markers 3 and 6 instead.
The deputy minister said any site chosen for the motorway exits would affect nearby residents, as land would have to be expropriated for the project. But he said the ministry would try to minimise the impact on locals.
The ministry has also moved ahead with double-track and high-speed train projects to improve transport links to the Northeast, he said.
The ministry has already conducted a survey to gauge views from residents living along the route of the double-track project, which would be built on the existing northeastern rail route, he said.
On the high-speed train project from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, he said the ministry was studying project proposals submitted by Chinese and Japanese firms.
The ministry also plans to upgrade the runway at Surin provincial airport and develop Nakhon Ratchasima airport as an aircraft maintenance centre in preparation for the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
About 1 billion baht was needed for the Nakhon Ratchasima airport development, he said.