Thailand pauses deep-sea port plan after fisherfolk sit-in

Thailand has terminated a bill that would have turned four southern provinces into a special economic zone, after a nine-day sit-in and a 190,000-signature petition.

By
Nicha Wachpanich

Published 3 July 2026
3 min read

Bangkok – Thom Sinsuwan, a Muslim fisherwoman in her sixties, wiped away tears of joy on hearing the outcome of the negotiations. She was relieved that her hometown would not be swallowed up by the industrial zone – not anytime soon, at least.

Ao Ang Bay is a crystalline expanse of water in Ranong province, southern Thailand. It was slated to host a 6,975-rai (1,116-hectare) deep-sea port – part of the core infrastructure for the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC), a planned special economic zone in the region. The construction would have threatened the livelihoods of local fisherfolk like Thom, as well as the nearby island of Koh Payam, a tourist favourite.

Following a sit-in by Thom and a hundred other locals in late June, and amid mounting public pressure, Thailand decided to pull back the mega-development project.

“I feel as if I was given a new life,” Thom told HaRDstories.

SEC law terminated

On 30 June, government representatives agreed with protesters to withdraw the Southern Economic Corridor Act from parliamentary review – the backbone law that would transform four provinces in the upper south (Ranong, Chumphon, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat) into a special economic zone, offering legal exemptions to foreign investors and fast-tracking industrial expansion.

The scheme promised to create jobs and boost the existing bioeconomy. Locals, however, worried about the heavy industry and pollution that might come with it.

For locals, the move signals the end of the SEC development, as well as a reconsideration of the infrastructure projects meant to complement it – known as the “Land Bridge,” a network of deep-sea ports, motorways and railways linking the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand had planned to offer it as an alternative maritime route bypassing the Malacca Strait.

The government has not issued a definitive no, but opposition negotiators are convinced the move effectively halts the SEC’s development, since no mechanism currently exists to take it forward.

The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning will set up a study committee, together with the environmental watchdog SEC Watch, to re-evaluate the development’s direction within 90 days.

“As for how we will move forward in the future, and whether the project will happen or not, depends on the study,” said Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Thailand’s deputy prime minister and minister of transport, at the conclusion of the negotiations. “If the study shows that we can move forward for the growth of the country’s economy, we will have to continue.”

Without SEC, no case for the Land Bridge?

Thailand was originally set to spend 1 trillion baht (29 billion USD) on building the Land Bridge. While the infrastructure project is stalled pending a new impact assessment, activists believe it will eventually be cancelled.

“In 2023, a research by Chulalongkorn University estimated that the new route will not attract enough maritime shipment to be worth the investment,” said Prasitchai Nunuan, the opposing negotiator. “Without the SEC Act, it means there won’t be any surrounding industrial estates. It is not worth the investment even more,”

He believes the government pushed the Land Bridge idea to obscure its true goal of building a special economic zone, in order to avoid opposition.

Earlier this year, the scheme drew public scrutiny, with more than 190,000 people signing a petition calling for its cancellation. Following the backlash, the Bhumjaithai Party which currently leads the government, posted a misleading claim that Land Bridge was not meant to serve SEC, despite the fact that the two projects are closely linked.

Prasitchai stressed that his network is not opposed to railway development, which he said has become increasingly important as a form of low-carbon transport and suggested instead adding a second track to the existing line.

A wider reckoning with industrial growth

The anti-SEC campaign was joined by locals living in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), Thailand’s largest industrial estate and petrochemical hub, which has faced repeated pollution problems from mismanaged factories and oil spills.

Following the sit-in, government representatives promised to follow up on compensation for small-scale fisherfolk affected by the Map Ta Phut deep-sea port expansion in Rayong, as well as to reconsider plans to integrate Prachinburi province into the Eastern Economic Corridor.

Correction: This article was updated on 6 July to reflect the terminology used in the memorandum of understanding between SEC Watch negotiators and Thai authorities. The SEC bill draft is now described as ‘terminated’ rather than ‘paused.’