Hormuz Crisis Spurs Thailand to Fast-Track Long-Standing Landbridge Project

Thailand will press ahead with a long-standing plan to link the Indian and Pacific oceans, bypassing the Malacca Strait, after tensions over the Strait of Hormuz highlighted the strategic value of key shipping routes, a senior minister said.

The government will accelerate efforts to develop the so-called landbridge, a project aimed at significantly reducing shipping times between the two oceans, Deputy Prime Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, who oversees the transport ministry, told reporters on Monday. The initiative may cost as much as 1 trillion baht ($31 billion), he said.