Advocates of the controversial Kra Canal plan which would connect the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea in the South will press the government to set up a committee to study the feasibility of the project.
The Thai Canal Association (TCA) -- consisting of retired generals, politicians and prominent businessmen with Chinese ties -- on Saturday met at Songkhla's Hat Yai district to discuss their push for the project's revival.
Representatives of the TCA will travel to Bangkok this week to hand a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urging him to press ahead with the canal.
Pol Gen Sunthorn Saikwan, a former deputy police chief and now a chairman of the Southerners' Association, said yesterday the canal project said would benefit the economy and the livelihoods of people in the entire country.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd previously said the government was studying the pros and cons of the project, including its implications for national security and budget expenditure.
He said the government was dealing with several other projects which take priority over the idea of digging a canal that traverses the southern isthmus.
A plan to forge a canal linking the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand resurfaced in May 2016 when National Reform Steering Assembly members, including Gen Harn Leenanon, the 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.
