Bangkok: the era of innovation

A traveller returning to Bangkok after a few years' absence is bound to ask the question: was traffic this Dantesque back then? The answer is no. It's true that ten years ago, or even five years ago, the famous pink taxis were already moving at a snail's pace on certain main roads, but not to this extent. Scheduling two appointments in the same day in the Thai capital has now become downright perilous. In 2016, the metropolis took second place on the list of the world's most congested cities, after Mexico City and well ahead of Sao Paulo. That's saying a lot!

The cause of this unflattering ranking: a public transport network that is still too limited, even though it is being restructured, and a burgeoning middle class. Indeed, buoyed by annual growth of around 3 %, Thailand has seen its poverty rate fall from 40 % before the 2000s to 10 % today.
The first result of this rise in the middle class was access to cars, which led to a staggering increase in the number of cars on the road in a very short space of time.

There is another reason for this concentration of people and cars. In the same way as Paris, Bangkok remains the country's political and economic decision-making centre, making this metropolis a city in perpetual development. " In just a few years, it has grown from 10 to 12 million inhabitants, and its limits are constantly being pushed back." explains Jean-François Goumy, Country Director for Thailand, Laos and Myanmar at Business France.

This extension of the city's territory has prompted the government and local authorities to invest in infrastructure. A total of 400 billion baths - around 10 billion euros - has been invested in the opening of three metro lines, two overhead and one underground. While the network currently comprises just 85 km, it is expected to reach 300 km by 2029. And there's good news for business travellers: the city's two airports - the Suvarnabhumi international hub and the Don Mueang domestic hub - will soon be connected to the centre of the capital.

Pushing back the boundaries

" There will also be extensions and upgrades to existing lines." adds Jean-François Goumy. The opening of new stations away from the centre will have the beneficial effect of restructuring a city whose spatial planning has always been patchy, to say the least.

Ultimately, these pockets of urban regeneration should give the Thai megalopolis a certain unity. This is all the more important given that Bangkok is a continuous city, with no concept of suburbs or outskirts, and is gradually catching up with neighbouring towns, notably Samut Prakan. Located on the coast to the south of Bangkok, in the most industrialised area of all Thailand, the province of Samut Prakan has a population of nearly 1.3 million. "As Maël Guiheneuf, export advisor at Business France Bangkok, points out, "When you leave Bangkok and drive along the coast, you enter an uninterrupted industrial zone, which includes a large car production centre.

Although Thailand is the world's fifteenth largest producer of vehicles, and second only to the United States in terms of pick-ups, it has no brand of its own. On the other hand, the country is home to most of the big American and Japanese names, from Ford to Toyota. The French, although not involved in production, have made a name for themselves as equipment manufacturers. Michelin is even omnipresent in Thailand, where rubber tree cultivation is flourishing.

In terms of resources, the country also has significant oil and gas reserves, with the world's seventh largest petrochemical processing platform located near the city of Rayong in the Gulf of Thailand. This explains why a project for a Sino-Thai rail link between the region and China is currently under study.

Bangkok, a sprawling city, is expanding both seawards and inland. Cranes, building sites and towers under construction now form the skyline. Its new symbol, the MahaNakhon Tower - nicknamed the Pixel Tower because of the square blocks that seem to stand out from this long architectural ribbon - was inaugurated this autumn. The French group Bouygues made a major contribution to the construction of this building, which at 314 metres and 77 storeys is now the tallest - and most luxurious - in Thailand. At the same time, new malls are springing up every year, driven by the consumerist zeal of the new middle and upper classes. The recently unveiled Siam Discovery and EMQuartier shopping centres compete with older malls, which have been facelifted in anticipation of this new competition. The banks of the Chao Praya river are also benefiting from this great desire for renewal. A mixed public-private project is underway. Luxury condominiums are being sold off-plan in huge, ostentatiously futuristic tower blocks, and there are plans to create promenades along the river. But the jewel on the banks of the Chao Praya will undoubtedly be the new parliament building, currently under construction and due for completion in 2019.

Bangkok is on the move. Its neighbourhoods are expanding and changing, despite a land-use plan that is sometimes a little anarchic. " Thailand is no longer considered a developing country" says Jean-François Goumy, Director of Business France. As the leading agri-food producer in South-East Asia, the world's largest producer of cassava and second largest producer of sugar cane, the country offers resources that are found nowhere else, whether in Malaysia or Singapore. But it is above all the industrial sector (45 % of GDP) that has enabled the country to establish itself as one of the pillars of the ASEAN economic community, the common market that is in the process of being set up between the countries of South-East Asia.

So Thailand is no longer an emerging country, but rather a mid-course country. And one that is firmly on the high-tech bandwagon. " Today, technology is becoming crucial in Thailand, and we're seeing the development of start-ups as cutting-edge as those in Paris, London, New York and San Francisco." says Maël Guiheneuf. The phenomenon has developed extravagantly quickly. Indeed, coworking spaces were absent from the Bangkok landscape until 2012, when Hubba was launched (see interview with Amarit Charoenphan). Since then, the concept has flourished. The Hive coworking space attracts a young population eager to start their own business. " It's a new phenomenon that brings together young, highly qualified Thais and many foreigners for whom Thailand represents opportunities they couldn't have found elsewhere." concludes Maël Guiheneuf. While digital is still in its expansion phase, e-commerce is already set to explode.

The only brake: an uncertain political situation reinforced by the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October at the age of 88, after 70 years of reign, closing a chapter in Thailand's history. Worshipped as a demigod, he was the glue that held together a country regularly rocked by coups d'état, the latest in May 2014 with the overthrow of Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of ex-prime minister Thaksin, former leader of the opposition and now in exile.

The death of the monarch could generate some uncertainty, even if the country's stability appears to be well established. The current Prime Minister, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who holds the country with an iron fist, is overseeing the transition to a democracy largely redefined by the military. The regime adopted a new constitution by referendum last August, with elections scheduled for December 2017, despite a year-long national mourning period. A regent has been appointed until the future King Rama X - Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn - ascends the throne. Less popular than his father, he enjoys the support of the military, which helps to reassure the business community. For, despite the grief of the population, it was "business as usual" in the country, with businesses only having to mourn for a single month.

Beyond the political question, the current challenge for Thailand is to move into the era of innovation in order to offer products with high added value and to avoid competition from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, where labour is cheaper. The government is therefore implementing new strategies to encourage start-ups. The groundwork has already been laid, with Thais avidly surfing social networks and more than half of them owning a mobile phone.

To go further, funding is now needed. The government has just released $570 million to help the 2,500 existing start-ups get off the ground and support the emergence of new ones. Uttama Savanayana, the Minister for Communications, hopes that within two years the number of start-ups will rise to 10,000. The Thai Tech Start-up Association intends to guide the government towards reforms that could encourage this nascent ecosystem... " Bangkok is what we call a Chinese city" says Sukanya Uerchuchai, Director of the Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce. " At the beginning of communism, a large diaspora settled here and developed commercial activities. So we have a good business sense" she smiles, perfectly confident in her city's future.