Thailand has selected 17 projects from 15 companies for the third intake of its FastPass mechanism, representing 121 billion baht ($3.66 billion) in planned investment and more than 14,000 expected jobs.
The Thailand Board of Investment said the program will coordinate regulatory approvals for the projects, while a separate BOI-to-IPO initiative will offer additional tax incentives to eligible promoted companies that list in Thailand.
The 121 billion baht is a project pipeline rather than money already deployed. The projects were selected from companies that had submitted applications for investment promotion, according to The Nation.
Electronics leads the new FastPass intake
Electronics and electrical-component manufacturers account for 10 of the 17 projects and 83.92 billion baht, or almost 70 percent of the planned investment in the third batch. The other projects include 24.34 billion baht for processed food, 8.8 billion baht for pet nutrition, and 4.36 billion baht for precision machinery and automotive parts.
The addition takes the FastPass portfolio to 42 projects worth a planned 344 billion baht, with more than 27,000 expected jobs across three intakes. FastPass uses service-level agreements among government agencies to address licensing and permitting bottlenecks before plants are commissioned.
Progress among earlier participants remains mixed. All 25 projects in the first two batches have received investment-promotion approval and 19 have been issued investment certificates. Eleven have completed all required permits within the relevant service-level windows. Actual investment by projects already in the FastPass pipeline has exceeded 21 billion baht, the BOI said.
Those figures indicate that most of the program’s stated value has not yet been realized. The BOI said it is changing its performance measures to emphasize actual investment, domestic value added, integration of small and medium-sized suppliers, skilled employment, research and development, and technology transfer.
Listing incentives target promoted companies
The BOI also announced BOI-to-IPO, developed with Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission and Stock Exchange of Thailand. It is intended to help high-potential promoted companies, particularly those in so-called New Economy sectors, raise capital for local expansion.
Under the announced framework, SET-certified New Economy companies that list on the SET, the Market for Alternative Investment, or LiVEx could receive up to three additional corporate income-tax exemption years or a 50 percent tax-rate reduction for five years. Other BOI-promoted companies could receive up to two additional exemption years or a 50 percent reduction for three years.
The BOI said the SEC is accelerating the IPO approval process, while the SET is easing some market-capitalization and operating-track-record requirements and adding a route for BOI- and Eastern Economic Corridor-promoted companies. The announcement did not specify an effective date, detailed eligibility tests, or the implementing rules for the incentives.
Three projects receive separate approvals
At the same meeting, the board approved three separate investment applications totaling 9.64 billion baht. Wind Mahasarakham 1 plans to invest 3.17 billion baht in a 90-megawatt wind farm in Maha Sarakham province. Precision Plastic received approval for a 2.03 billion baht expansion into sterile, aseptic food and beverage packaging in Ayutthaya.
ShuCan (Thailand), part of Chengdu-based ShuCan Technology Group, received approval for a 4.44 billion baht expansion of its printed-circuit-board assembly operation at the Nong Lalok Industrial Estate in Rayong. The BOI said the facility will use full-line surface-mount technology to support a customer relocating production to Thailand.
The dollar conversions in the BOI release use an exchange rate of approximately 33.1 baht to the US dollar. Project completion dates, individual FastPass participants, and the schedule for the new listing incentives were not disclosed.
Featured image credit: Thailand BOI
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