Back to Work, Hi-Tech partially reopens early Massive utility hike to pay for new dyke

Flood-ravaged Hi-Tech Industrial Park resumed operations yesterday, 15 days ahead of target, while 30 factories there have already laid off over 8,700 staff.

Cleaners report for duty at Canon Hitech factory. 

Thavich Taychanavakul, Hi-Tech's managing director, said the 20-year-old estate projected it would reopen on Dec 15 after it was hit by floods on Oct 13.

About 10 of 140 factories in the estate are ready to restart production, including Aapico Hitech and Canon Hitech.

Hi-Tech is the third estate in Ayutthaya to resume operations after Factoryland and Bangpa-in Industrial Estate.

Five estates in the province are inundated: Hi-Tech, Factoryland, Bangpa-in, Rojana, and Saha Rattana Nakorn.

There are 60,000 workers employed at Hi-Tech with direct investment of 60 billion baht.

Wannarat Srisuksai, Ayutthaya's Labour Protection and Welfare official, said the number of factories cutting headcounts has more than doubled from 12 last month to 30.

There are 5,364 factories in Ayutthaya employing 380,000 people.

Monta Pranootnarapal, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand's governor, said floodwater would start to be pumped out of Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate on Dec 3 and take two days to finish.

All five submerged estates in Ayutthaya should reopen in January.

The other two flooded estates were in Pathum Thani: Nava Nakorn and Bangkadi.

Mr Thavich said roughly 100 million baht is required to restore utilities at Hi-Tech, with 330 million slated for building 11 kilometres of a new dyke around the estate with a height of 5.40 metres. The existing dyke is 4.20 metres high, but the flood reached 4.9 metres above sea level at its peak.

He said the company plans to increase the central utility fee by 1,200-1,500 baht per rai per month on top of 900-1,000 baht per rai at present. The hike is aimed at mobilising money to repay loans for building the dyke.

The increased fee, which is subject to approval from IEAT, will be applied for 15 years, he said.

Ms Monta agreed the fee was needed to build new infrastructure.

Mr Thavich said 3% of the existing 140 companies are expected to relocate from Hi-Tech partly to leverage risks.

"Some companies heavily relied on manufacturing in Thailand. Now they are looking at other locations to minimise risks of a disruption in the future," he said.