Source : Business Times – 25 Aug 2009
A leading research organisation in Thailand has said that foreigners now control about 90 per cent of land along the coastlines of the Thai resort island of Phuket, local media reported yesterday.
Bangkok Post online quoted the research by the Thailand Research Fund as saying that land grab by foreigners is also rife in other prime Thai resorts, and is especially rampant in Pattaya in Chon Buri province, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui in Surat Thani, Phuket and Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Other tourism destinations, such as those in northern province Chiang Mai, suffer the similar situation.
The research on foreign land ownership, released on Sunday, said local officials and legal experts have been helping foreign investors find the legal loopholes to buy lands through local nominees or proxy companies. There is also speculation that foreign businessmen, particularly from the Middle East, are purchasing rice fields in the central plains and elsewhere through proxy local companies, which is against the law.
‘About 90 per cent of land along the coastline in Phuket is controlled by foreigners through Thai nominees,’ said Siriporn Sajjanont, from the economics faculty at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University and a member of the research team. She said the study showed many kinds of property had been bought by foreigners through Thai nominees, though she thought foreign investment capital was essential for developing resorts such as Phuket and Samui islands.
And in some land lease cases, the period of leasehold was unusually long, Ms Siriporn said, adding the research found that some lease contracts stated the leasehold is ‘for life’.
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