Thailand : Greater Mekong Subregion Highway Expansion Project

Transport / Road transport (non-urban)

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Highway Expansion Project upgrades 178 kilometers (km) of two-lane national highways to four-lane divided highway standard. Highway 12 from Phitsanulok to Lom Sak (105 km) is on the GMS East-West Economic Corridor; and Highway 359 from Phanom Sarakham to Sa Kaeo (73 km) is along the GMS Southern Economic Corridor.

The Project also assists the Department of Highways (DOH) under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) in preparing an implementation plan for the Strategic Intercity Motorway Network. This includes a detailed and coordinated implementation and financing plan for strategic intercity motorways along three corridors radiating out from Bangkok to a distance of 200-250 km, as well as a detailed analysis of financing alternatives.

After 3 decades of rapid economic development, Thailand's growth has slowed. Strengthening competitiveness has become the centerpiece of Thailand's economic policy to reinvigorate growth. Deficient infrastructure is consistently cited as a major constraint on productivity growth. To address high logistics costs in the transport sector, the DOH is prioritizing five areas: (i) intercity motorways, (ii) Bangkok express ring roads, (iii) industrial ring roads, (iv) four-lane highway widening, and (v) roadway network connections to neighboring countries. ADB's strategy focuses on assisting the MOT in these five areas of road development. In the longer term, ADB can offer the most additionality by assisting the MOT in the development of the motorway network using public'private partnerships. However, planning for the motorway network is incomplete, whereas preparation for making critical sections of the highway network four lanes - which is essential in the short to medium term - is well advanced.

The economic corridor approach, which was adopted by GMS leaders and reaffirmed by the 15th GMS Ministerial Conference (June 2009, Cha-am, Thailand), aims to (i) generate more cross-border trade; (ii) extend the benefits of improved transport links to remote and landlocked locations in the GMS, which have been disadvantaged by their lack of integration with more prosperous and better-located neighboring areas; (iii) provide a spatial focus to GMS activities, with the backbone, growth centers, and nodal points serving as catalysts for the development of surrounding areas; (iv) open up many opportunities for investments from within and outside the GMS; and (v) enhance the impact of subregional activities through the clustering of projects. The adoption of this approach assumes that the underlying national networks are adequate and efficient, which has not been the case in most countries. Cross-border traffic constitutes a small portion of total road traffic in Thailand, but ongoing improvements in transport infrastructure could soon exhaust the capacity of already busy roads. Therefore, managing road network capacity in the GMS corridors is required to avoid defeating the purpose of transforming these corridors into full-fledged economic corridors.

1. Upgrading of 105 km of highway along the EWEC and 73 km along the SEC to a four-lane divided highway standard.

2. Project management system operating

3. An implementation plan for the Strategic Intercity Motorway Network prepared

Upgrading of 105 km of highway along the EWEC and 73 km along the SEC to a four-lane divided highway standard - Civil works completed.

Final environmental monitoring report submitted in May 2016. Previous environmental issues have been addressed.

HHTAP is being implemented with the contractors and the communities.

The resettlement activities under the Project have been substantially completed, and all vendors have completed relocation and restarted their businesses at their relocation sites.

Road Safety Audit Study Report submitted on 18 March 2016.

Completed.

Final report submitted.

The Project widens two sections of paved highways. Based on the requirements of the ADB's Environment Policy (2002), the Project has been classified as environmental category B (sensitive) because the alignment along Highway 12 (the Phitsanulok-Lom Sak section) traverses the Thung Salaeng Luang National Park and several sensitive watershed designations. The highway was constructed in 1960, while the national park was declared as such in 1975. The proposed highway expansion is restricted to areas within the existing 60-meter ROW of Highway 12. The park designation does not extend inside the ROW pursuant to the Royal Decree for Separation of Highway Right-of-Way from Thung Salaeng Luang National Park. Further, all portions of the ROW that encompass sensitive watersheds or are adjacent to the national park have been previously disturbed or developed through activities such as logging, agriculture, or roadway and commercial construction. As such, these areas are in a degraded condition with respect to ecological resources. The adjacent portions of the national park have also been previously degraded through similar activities, as noted for the ROW. Native habitats generally are absent within 50-60 meters of the ROW, and the most sensitive (core) habitat areas of the park are about 2 km or more south of the alignment. No protected areas, such as national parks, designated forests, or sensitive watersheds, are within or adjacent to Highway 359 (the Phanom Sarakham-Sa Kaeo section). The section is in an area of generally level terrain and is predominantly agricultural.

The predicted environmental impacts during construction include air pollution, mainly from dust emissions; noise and vibration; water pollution from fuel spills and improper waste disposal; soil erosion and siltation of water courses because of earthworks and extraction of borrow materials; and habitat loss from vegetation clearing. The Project is expected to improve the ecological condition within the ROW of the two highway sections. The Project includes extensive tree replanting (utilizing native species), landscaping, erosion control, slope stabilization, and water quality control. Wildlife crossings also are provided for road sections along Highway 12. These are either project design or mitigation measures, and include applicable monitoring programs to ensure proper function and identify necessary remedial measures. Impacts during the operations phase are expected to be limited mainly to air and noise pollution from vehicles. The proposed project design includes a number of monitoring efforts to identify site-specific locations where regulatory standards cannot be met. In those cases, additional mitigation measures are implemented, as appropriate.

An EMP has been prepared detailing mitigation and monitoring requirements, associated implementation responsibilities, schedules, preliminary costs, reporting frequency, and capacity building or training requirements. Timely and proper implementation of mitigation measures defined in the EMP will help ensure that the Project will not significantly harm the environment.

During project construction, consultation will continue during updating and implementation of the resettlement plan. A series of consultations with affected people will be held during the detailed measurement survey.

To minimize the risk of the highways dividing local communities by disrupting existing local road communications, the Department of Highways has already discussed with local communities construction of highway-crossing facilities including underpasses and overpasses. The need for and location of these facilities were confirmed during the detailed engineering design. Planning for community infrastructure was through local committees; membership of these committees will consist of representatives of the District Highway Office, project consultants, and representatives of the local communities. Local communities were consulted to determine the maximum distance between facilities to cross the highways - by either overpasses or underpasses - to avoid the disruption of livelihood and social networks and the existing local road system. Community consultations are facilitated by the construction supervision consultant's team.