Exclusive-Thailand revives $30 billion coast-to-coast corridor to rival Malacca Strait

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Thailand has revived plans for a $30 billion coast-to-coast Land Bridge corridor to rival the Malacca Strait, aiming to connect ports on both sides of the peninsula. The project, supported by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, has faced opposition from local fishermen amid strategic concerns highlighted by recent regional maritime tensions.

By Panu Wongcha-um RANONG, Thailand, June 18 (Reuters) - Chaiyaporn Arunrasamee hunched over his fishing nets, overlooking the waters of the Andaman Sea, where Thailand's government is proposing an ambitious "Land Bridge" that will ferry goods between ports on opposite sides of the peninsula. "Personally, I don't want it to happen at all," Chaiyaporn said of the project, which Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has resuscitated after the war in Iran and the closure of the Hormuz Strait highlighted countries' reliance on strategic maritime chokepoints.