Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday that moving the capital could prevent overpopulation.
At a seminar titled “Connecting Thailand to the World” in Bangkok, Prayut cited two possibilities for relocating the capital.
“The first is to find a city that is neither too far nor too expensive to move to,” Prayut said. “The second step is to decentralize the urban area to the outskirts of Bangkok to reduce congestion.”
Prayut said the second approach could help preserve Bangkok’s key monuments, and government and business facilities might be moved to the outskirts of the town.
The second approach would scale back the necessity for therefore many individuals to travel to and from the town center, thereby reducing traffic congestion, Prayut said.
Moving the capital is just an idea and would require extensive research into its economic and social impacts, but under his administration it is feasible, Prayut said.
“Previous governments never managed to do this, fearing it would cause irreversible conflict in society,” Prayut said. “Now the first priority is to establish mutual understanding between people to ensure that people and the government agree on similar issues.”
