Five Bangkok Suburban Hubs Planned

[webfact]

Five suburban hubs planned

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA,

PONGPHON SARNSAMAK

THE NATION

Mass-transit lines, high-rise building projects to be constructed, BMA says.

BANGKOK: -- People living in the outskirts of Bangkok would no longer have to take hours to travel to work or conduct their business downtown, thanks to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's new city plan that would decentralise the growth of urban areas by designating five locations around the capital as commercial suburban areas.

The five areas are Bang Na, Bang Khen, Ram-Indra, Min Buri and Taling Chan, Preecha Ronnarong of the of Public Works and Town and Country Planning's Department's city planning committee said yesterday.

"These areas are ready to be developed as new sub-centres because mass-transit rapid transportation will be installed in the areas," he said.

Under the new city plan, which has been approved by the department and is expected to be announced and implemented by May 15 next year, these areas would be commercial areas due to their population density and increasing urban infrastructure.

Until now, some parts of the five areas have been designated as low-and medium-density areas.

"Most of the new sub-centre areas will be located in the eastern part of Bangkok," he added.

To promote land use along mass-transit transportation routes, the new plan would allow for condominium developers to construct high-rise buildings within a radius of 500 metres of Skytrain lines and underground rail junctions.

"This exception would be implemented only in areas where the Skytrain or underground rail system already exists," Preecha said.

The current city plan only allows developers to build high-rises on main roads. They cannot build on land in a sub-road or soi.

The construction of condominiums would also still be controlled by other regulations such as the Building Control Act, which limit the setback distance of a building, he said.

Preecha suggested that Bangkok and the nearby provinces of Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon and Samut Prakran should help each other in creating the "Greater Bangkok", which would merge and designate the utilisation of land in each province, instead of using different city plans to designate land use.

Currently, the city plans of these six provinces are not harmonised with each other, which results in directionless urban development growth within greater Bangkok, the planner said.

"We found that some areas [in these provinces] close to industrial zones were designated as residential areas instead of as commercial areas," he said.

The Greater Bangkok city plan would designate the direction of urban development in a more sustainable way, he added.

-- The Nation 2012-11-13

[Moruya]

City planning? Expansion?

Well done BMA

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Thai at Heart]

Is there any space left in these new hubs?

[asiawatcher]

I am sure decentralisation is a word they have used and I for one welcome it. But the town planners need to take a good look at urban design and try make this a little less visually 'polluted'. More shop houses, more wires strung on overloaded poles, narrow streets and footpaths crowded with illegal vendors. No-one can say Thailand is a beautiful city. More like it is a filthy place and needs some serious work to reverse that. As for the "Building Control Act", now that is an oxymoron.

[DocN]

They are planning hubs now?

I always thought, a hub is something that developes...ah...mai pen rai...

So they will be connected to mass- transport and therefore start "hubbing" in ...2032?

[Payboy]

Hubba Hubba

[BEVUP]

Well here we go again

Since they now have all the HUBS of the world they now need to make more internally

Hope they all dont all fall of at once like their vehicles

[FOODLOVER]

I thought the plan was to move to higher ground as Bangkok is sinking.

[noitom]

I am sure decentralisation is a word they have used and I for one welcome it. But the town planners need to take a good look at urban design and try make this a little less visually 'polluted'. More shop houses, more wires strung on overloaded poles, narrow streets and footpaths crowded with illegal vendors. No-one can say Thailand is a beautiful city. More like it is a filthy place and needs some serious work to reverse that. As for the "Building Control Act", now that is an oxymoron.

"Urban design" in Bangkok is also an oxymoron.

[noitom]

It's gets so crowded around here that nobody comes anymore.

[toybits]

Myanmar is smarter. They moved the capital out of Yangon. This country could learn a few lessons from their neighbor they despise.

[davejones]

Myanmar is smarter. They moved the capital out of Yangon. This country could learn a few lessons from their neighbor they despise.

You can't move a capital city; you can only name another place as the capital city. Yangon didn't move - it is still there. Make Chiang Mai the capital, and Bangkok will still be the commercial centre and will continue to grow. Do you really think people will leave Bangkok just because it's not the capital? Are people abandoning Bangkok to move move to Washington? No.

[sprq]

City planning? In Bangkok? You're having me on!

[Baerboxer]

I am sure decentralisation is a word they have used and I for one welcome it. But the town planners need to take a good look at urban design and try make this a little less visually 'polluted'. More shop houses, more wires strung on overloaded poles, narrow streets and footpaths crowded with illegal vendors. No-one can say Thailand is a beautiful city. More like it is a filthy place and needs some serious work to reverse that. As for the "Building Control Act", now that is an oxymoron.

You are right. No one can say Thailand is a beautiful city - because its a country not a city.

[planr]

What this article fails to tell is that the BMA has been "planning" suburban sub-centers since its first land use master plan in 1992. The original plan called for sub-centers in Lam Lukka, Minburi, Lat Krabang, Bang Kung Thian, and Taling Chan. The problem with developing these sub-centers over the last 20 years really boils down to two things.

1) The BMA, for all its land use plans and zoning ordinances, is really bad at enforcement and implementation

2) The BMA has near zero control over mass transit development, which is really what is needed to support the development of real sub-centers.

[Narratio]

I've lived in Minburi since '89. Seen it grow from small two lane roads to 4 lane mostrosities and the destruction of a lot of its character. Last year, during the floods it was in an area the government designed at high risk for flooding. And so it was. Flooded to heck and back. Now it's to be a new urban hub? BWAAAAAAAHHH HAAAH HAAH HAH HAH!

Time to move. Think we'll head north east, Pak Thong Chai is cooler, that'll do.

[PaulHamon]

does the mass transit system go to any of these places? shouldn't it.

[DP25]

does the mass transit system go to any of these places? shouldn't it.

The Skytrain currently goes go to Bang Na, and there is a line under construction that goes to Taling Chan. The other 3 don't have anything yet.

[RJJ]

"Under the new city plan, which has been approved by the department and is expected to be announced and implemented by May 15 next year..."

Great, I will be arriving in BKK on 25 May; I'll head over to Bang Na to check out the newly implemented hub.

It'll be all up and running by then, won't it?

[bkk_mike]

does the mass transit system go to any of these places? shouldn't it.

The Skytrain currently goes go to Bang Na, and there is a line under construction that goes to Taling Chan. The other 3 don't have anything yet.

It gets close to reaching Bang-Na. It's not quite there...

i.e. You have to get off at udomSuk and take a bus the remaining kilometre or so...

As for Ram Indra and Min-Buri - there's nothing at the moment. They keep talking about, I think, the "Orange Line", but I don't think they've broken ground on it yet, so it's probably a decade away at least. The bit they've changed the colour of in Ram Indra looks to be between Fashion Island and the Chalong Rat expressway junction on Ram Indra road. That's not a good thing as that's pretty solid, and slow-moving (when moving), traffic in the mornings already.