The Kra Canal project, a plan to build a canal though the Isthmus of Kra in southern Thailand, shortening the time for Mideast deliveries to Asia by avoiding the congested Strait of Malacca, was replaced by the Thai government with a plan for a rail/road connection, with two new ports constructed on either side. That plan has also now been shelved by the Thai government, Finance Minister Ekniti announced on July 24. A study of the project concluded that “the feasibility level of the land bridge project is low, mainly due to budgetary risks and multiple uncertainties.”
The Kra Canal plan, originally a French proposal to defend their colonial presence from the British in the 17th Century, was fiercely opposed by the British, who forced the Thai government to agree (in the wake of WWII) to never proceed without British approval. The plan was revived by an American company in 1972 and further developed by Lyndon LaRouche and his associates in the 1970s and 1980s, with a 1983 conference on the Canal in Bangkok sponsored by LaRouche’s EIR and the Thai government. Despite several efforts to proceed with the project, along with several signs of interest by Chinese, Japanese, and Russian concerns, it was never implemented, and was replaced by the rail-road “Land Bridge” concept, which has now been scrapped as well—at least for now.
