Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Thailand should not follow Indonesia and move its capital out of Bangkok

Should Bangkok be stripped of its status as capital? The debate over whether Thailand's capital should be moved has been mounting since Indonesia's President Joko Widodo announced last week that he will relocate his country's capital from Jakarta to a site east of Borneo island.

Bangkok is home to more than 10 million residents and share many of the problems as Jakarta, such as traffic congestion, deterioration of the environment and social tensions.

Bangkok is home to more than 10 million residents and share many of the problems as Jakarta, such as traffic congestion, deterioration of the environment and social tensions.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

Should Bangkok be stripped of its status as capital? The debate over whether Thailand's capital should be moved has been mounting since Indonesia's President Joko Widodo announced last week that he will relocate his country's capital from Jakarta to a site east of Borneo island.

Rapid expansion, high population density and land subsidence in Jakarta in recent years have prompted economic, environmental and safety concerns which forced Mr Widodo to come up with a plan. "The burden Jakarta is holding right now as the centre of governance, business, finance, trade and services is too heavy," he said.

Given that Bangkok is similarly overcrowded, polluted, and sinking, many Thais have raised the issue of shifting the nation's capital elsewhere on social media over the past week. Both Bangkok and Jakarta are home to more than 10 million residents and share many of the same problems such as traffic congestion, deterioration of the environment and social tensions.

After Mr Widodo's announcement, Rangsit University rector and former House Speaker Arthit Ourairat called on the Thai government to follow suit, citing the capital's worsening traffic and the need to decentralise the country's development to other provinces.

There were mixed reactions towards the proposed relocation of the capital; however, most people agreed Bangkok has far too many problems which require fixing.

In fact, it is not the first time the idea of shifting the capital has been floated. Almost two decades ago, the Thaksin Shinawatra administration assigned a government think-tank, now known as the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), to study a plan to move the capital to Nakhon Nayok, a province about 100 kilometres away from Bangkok.

After Bangkok was hard hit by massive floods in 2011, some Pheu Thai Members of Parliament proposed the House conduct a similar study, saying Bangkok's low-lying areas, and its subsidence rate of 2cm a year made it prone to flooding, a risk aggravated by climate change.

Two years ago, the military government assigned the NESDC to study the possibility of moving government offices from Bangkok to Chachoengsao in the east.

For better or worse, these proposals never materialised.

In reality, moving government offices and the capital from Bangkok to another province seems impossible. 

Such moves require investments which the country cannot afford. Moreover, hundreds of billions of baht have already been spent on developing the rail transport grid and other infrastructure in Bangkok.

However, keeping Bangkok's status as capital does not mean leaving its many problems unresolved as there are solutions worth considering.

First of all, state agencies must stop working in silos and start working together to implement integrated and effective measures and policies for the city's development.

Meanwhile, opportunities for growth and prosperity must also be seriously channelled to other provinces. To do so, both administrative and economic power needs to be decentralised and the government's top-down budget allocation methods have to change.

In addition, urban development plans tailor-made for provinces should be drawn up, to link them into the under-construction high-speed and double-track rail networks to help them capitalise on connectivity.

The capital does not need to move from Bangkok. It rather needs better management, good vision and effective policies from the government. BANGKOK POST

Related topics

Bangkok Jakarta climate change urban planning

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.