Ratchadaphisek, Chaeng Wattana among revised zones
The changing face of Bangkok has led the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s City Planning Department to recommend changes in land use in 29 locations in the capital and its suburbs.
The department’s deputy director MR Premsiri Kasemsan told The Nation earlier this week that the changes would come into effect when the new draft city plan was implemented in about 2013.
Some locations will be changed to high-density land use, opening them to the construction of high-rise residential projects. Other locations, where facilities have not kept pace with city growth, will be changed to low-density land use.
“We are changing the land-use categories following urbanisation in some areas, such as new rapid-transit routes, completion of the new Government Complex, the new Parliament House complex, and so on. This changes the existing city plan, which fixed environmental and land use six years ago. We are revising the city plan to match urbanisation,” she said.
For example, the areas around Chaeng Wattana, Ram-Indra, Taling Chan, Ratchadaphisek and Charan Sanitwong roads will change from low density to high density zones following the extension of mass-transit routes into these areas. This will increase the demand for residential developments in these locations.
Srinakarin Road and Bang Na-Trat Road, which are now green areas, will be changed to areas for small commercial developments. Two other locations, Klong Chak Pra and Suksawad Road under the expressway, will revert from high-density to low-density areas because transportation systems do not support the number of people living there.
The draft of the new city plan is currently the subject of public hearings that will end on September 25. It may become effective in 2013, Premsiri said.
Changes in land prices are certain to follow the new city plan.
Prices will climb in locations that change from low- to high-density land use because of the potential for increased residential development. In those locations reverting to low-density land use, prices are likely to fall.
“We cannot estimate these price movements because they will depend on land-value appraisals,” she said.
Earlier, the Treasury Department revised upwards its land-value appraisals in Bangkok’s central business districts and locations close to new mass-transit routes, with increases ranging from 15 to 50 per cent, following a rise in demand for residences near mass-transit services.
The director of the department’s Land Appraisal Office, Chucheep Jitumpai, said land values near both the Skytrain and the subway had risen significantly, by as much as 50 per cent, since last year. This is due to the limited amount of land available for residential development compared with demand in these areas.
Popular locations with increasing demand for residences and land prices rising above official valuations include Phloenchit Road, where market prices range between Bt1.2 million and Bt1.5 million per square wah (4 square metres), while the appraisal value averages Bt700,000 per square wah. Nearby Rajdamri Road has appraisal values averaging Bt500,000 per square wah, but most of land is under long lease.
Meanwhile, locations in Bangkok where construction has begun on new mass-transit routes, such as the Purple Line from Bang Sue to Bang Yai, have seen strong demand for land, with market prices soaring by more than 50 per cent.
For example, prices on Bangkok-Nonthaburi Road have reached Bt100,000 per square wah, up by about 56 per cent from last year. On Rattanathibet Road, from Nonthaburi’s Central Hall to Central Town, land prices have risen to Bt120,000 per square wah, an increase of 50 per cent over last year. From Central Town to Nonthaburi port, land prices have now reached Bt80,000 per square wah.
Land prices close to the Pink Line from Kai Rai to Pak Kret and Min Buri, passing along Chaeng Wattana Road, have also reached Bt80,000 per square wah after being only Bt56,000 last year.
Normally, market prices are between 20 and 30 per cent higher than appraisal values, Chucheep said, adding that land-price rises would drive residential prices up.
Source: The Nation
