Research and Development of Strategy to Prepare the Readiness of Chiangrai Special Economic Zone Project Establishment

Abstract

The objectives of this strategic development
research were to prepare for the readiness of the Special
Economic Zone in Chiangrai province. The goals of this research
were consisted of 1) to study the readiness of the Chiangrai
Special Economic Zone project in Chiangrai province, and 2) to
develop the strategic development plan for the Chiangrai Special
Economic Zone project in Chiangrai province. The research had
been carried out through the usage of the mixed method, survey
research External situation analysis was PEST analysis,
including the SWOT analysis and the focus group discussion as
well as the workshop operations amongst the people who got the
involvement in the establishment of the Chiangrai Special
Economic Zone project in the Chiangrai province of Thailand.
The aim was to plan the strategic planning and the preparation
for the readiness of the Chiangrai Special Economic Zone project
establishment. The research result was found that;
1. The Chiangrai Special Economic Zone project had been
investigated in term of readiness for the establishment; and it was
found that there were 6 aspects to be dealt with,
1) the location, 2) the border trading situation, 3) the logistics and
the supplies chain, 4) the labor force development, 5) the
acknowledgement of the citizens of the Chiangrai province, 6) the
readiness of the financial institutes. According to the study, it was
found that the pushing force came from the location of the
Chiangrai province which was situated on the border region of
three neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Laos and China
in conjunction with the cooperation amongst the nations that
located in the sub-region area under the GMS Development
Project, which connected the Mekong Sub-region countries to
cooperate in the development project. As a result, there was an
increase in the border trading. However, there were many
obstacles in the readiness of the program, for instance, the
logistics and the supply chains were gigantic sizes and huge
quantity. On the aspect of the labor force, there were increasing
number of foreign labors and workers. On the aspect of the
acknowledgement of the citizens of the Chiangrai province, it was
found that, generally, it was known to the local people who lived
in the vicinity of Mae Sai district, Chiang Khong district and
Chiang Saen district. Nonetheless, they did not know the
Chiangrai Special Economic Zone project in details. On the
aspect of the readiness of the financial institutes in the locality, it
was found that the financial institutes were in the basic-level
services.
2. Owing to the basic information mentioned above, it was found
that the wide-ranging perspective on the readiness of the
Chiangrai Special Economic Zone project in Chiangrai province
was in a low level development which required many factors for
the expansion. That was why this research had to be carried out
in term of strategy and development plan under “The vision the
lovely living Chiangrai Special Economic Zone, the gate way to
The Greater Maekong Sub-region Countries (GMS)” which had
the following seven strategies, 1) the administrative and
management strategy for the convenience of the border region
development strategy, 2) the infrastructure and the logistics
strategy, 3) the labor force and human resources strategy, 4) the
financial institutes strategy , 5) the community development
strategy for the supporting of the Special Economic Zone project,
6) ) the upgrading of the education and the training for the
knowledge of the Special Economic Zone project, 7) the economic
expansion strategy in the local areas so that the major investment
could be possible.