Thai Public Sector
The Role of the Public Sector
Thailand is predominantly a free market economy with the private sector generating most of the economic activity. Public sector involvement is largely limited to providing a framework for the economy’s regulation and expansion. The government’s major contribution to economic growth has been to provide economic and social services, most notably to build highways, irrigation, and power facilities as well as to provide various incentives and financial assistance to promote private investments, export businesses and agricultural enterprises.
In 1993, total government expenditure was 15.8 percent of the GNP.
Infrastructural Support
Irrigation. During the period of the first two development plans, the irrigation service area increased from 1.5 million hectares in 1964 to two million hectares in 1974. By the end of 1993, the irrigated area was 4.24 million hectares which is 18 percent of the entire agricultural area. Most of the irrigation service areas are in the central and northern regions fed by tributaries of the Chao Phraya River. Areas in the Northeast irrigated by canals came to about 13 percent of the total.
About 3.4 million hectares have access to gravity irrigation, and 92,800 hectares of these are under an intensive on-farm development program known as the Land Consolidation Project. Within gravity irrigation servicing areas, major structures such as reservoirs, diversion dams and main canals have been built.
Investment in on-farm development is generally required to enhance the effectiveness of the system.
Pumping irrigation is another important technique in the irrigation system. This technique was first implemented in 1973. In 1993 pumping stations serviced 500,000 hectares. The northeastern region benefits most from this service.
In addition, underground reserves provide a significant amount of irrigation water in certain areas. It is estimated that farmland irrigated by groud-water at present amounts to 1,600 hectares. Farm ponds are also used to supplement rainfall for many areas of the dry Northeast.
Public Utilities
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is a state enterprise and the country’s principal producer of electricity. Over the past few years, efforts to reduce the use of high-cost imported fuel oil for power generation by developing substitute domestic resources from natural gas and lignite have yielded satisfactory results.
The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) is responsible for the distribution of electricity in the Bangkok Metropolitan areas, while the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) handles the distribution to the rest of the kingdom.
Water supply to the capital city is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA). It has successfully completed the first stage of a massive filtration and distribution scheme to double the city’s potable water supply.
Key elements of the project were the construction of an enormous filtration plant capable of eventual expansion to 5.2 million cubic metres per day production and an underground network of transmission tunnels. Laser-directed “moles” were employed to dig and lay 3.86 metre-diametre pipes 20 meters below the ground in the world’s first soft-earth tunneling project, a feat of considerable engineering ingenuity involving both Thai and foreign contractors.