'12% Industry Growth Not Sustainable

Powditch was addressing the Asian Securities Analysts Federation Conference.

Pointing to the sorry state of affairs in the infrastructure sector, he said there has been almost no growth in railway lines since independence and no new rolling stock.

Maintenance too has been poor, he observed.

Powditch was pessimistic about the outlook in the road segment as road conditions are deteriorating and highways still have only one or two lanes.

He pointed to the absence of toll roads in the country and attributed the frequency of accidents to the rapid growth of road users. Utilisation of the major ports is also way above their capacities, he said.

 

Noting that it is impossible to create new land for ports, he said there are several procedural constraints and access to key ports is blocked.