The idea of building a shipping lane from one side of the country to the other, linking the Gulf of Thailand, or Gulf of Siam as it was known at the time, with the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, was first proposed by King Narai in 1677. Now, in 2018, the proposal is back.
The idea is to shorten journeys for ships travelling from, for example, Europe and China. At the moment, ships travel through the dangerous and congested Malacca Strait, often stopping in Singapore to refuel or unload along the way. The Thai canal would cut more than 1,000 km off the journey.
Since a coup in 2014, Thailand has been under military rule. The current backers of the canal openly admit that it would be easier to push it through under a military government than a democratically-elected, civilian one.
So far, the Thai government has shown no interest in even agreeing to conduct a feasibility study, let alone sign off on the $30bn, but supporters of the idea hope to use economics to convince the country’s Prime Minister, General Prayuth Chan-ocha.
“He has to come to the understanding that this is the project that will stimulate our economy faster than any other project that we have right now,” said Pakdee Tanapura of the Canal Study Team.
One of the concerns for the prime minister is the location of the canal. There are several, proposed sites, but the favoured one sits just above the three southernmost provinces, where armed Muslim groups are fighting for independence from predominantly Buddhist Thailand. The canal could create a border between the south and the rest of Thailand, thus emboldening the claim of the separatists.
The second answer to the question about timing lies in China, where the supporters of the canal have close ties. They’re trying to take advantage of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative that aims to improve transport and trade routes between China, the rest of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
The Chinese government and private companies are pouring billions of dollars into mega-projects, like a high-speed train line that will run from Yunnan Province in southern China to Laos and Thailand.
The canal could conceivably fit into Chinese President Xi Jinpang’s grand plans to build a new Silk Road, but while there is some interest in the project from private enterprise in China, there is none from the government.
At the moment, Thailand’s canal is still just an idea, albeit one that’s been centuries in the making.