Thailand News Today | No More Traffic Jams in Bangkok by 2023?
Today is cannabis decriminalisation day, and the people of Thailand have wasted no time in registering to grow their own cannabis plants at home.
Thailand’s FDA revealed that, so far, more than 100,000 budding cannabis growers have registered via the ‘Plook Ganja’ website and mobile application.
To legally grow cannabis or hemp at home, Thai people do not need to seek permission.
All they need to do is notify the FDA that they intend to grow cannabis, which they can do in two ways.
Registration can be made through the ‘Plook Ganja’ (‘Grow Cannabis’) mobile application, which is available on IOS and Android.
The application has been downloaded over 50,000 times already.
Alternatively, cannabis growers can register through the ‘Plook Ganja’ website, which will issue an electronic receipt when registration is complete.
The website crashed this morning because so many people tried to register at once, but now the site is back up and running.
Upon registration, the cannabis cultivator must state their intentions for growing the plant, whether that is to treat a personal health issue,
treat someone else’s health problem, for household use, to use in the production of other medicinal products or for commercial use, among a list of other reasons.
For now, it appears that growing cannabis at home is a privilege reserved for Thais only, because registration requires a Thai ID card number.
All parts of cannabis plants – including the leaves, stalks, flowers, stems and roots – are no longer classified as a Category 5 narcotic, starting today, June 9.
However, any extracts – such as oil – made from the plant must not contain more than 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
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New apartments in Bangkok are expected to exceed 50,000 units in 2022, beating levels seen in 2020 and 2021 but still falling short of levels seen before the Covid outbreak.
According to the manager of research and consulting at property consultancy Edmund Tie & Co นีรนุช กนกวิลัยรัตน์, if the war between Russia and Ukraine doesn’t escalate and further,
and if monkeypox is kept under control, the prediction could be revised to more than 50,000 units.
The real estate market in Bangkok showed signs of life in the first five months of 2022, with new units surpassing the entire record set in the past 2 years.
The Covid pandemic stalled the debut of several new buildings, while in 2020, the figure dropped by 60% from 2019, and it fell by another 15% in 2021.
Property developers interested in the Chinese market were also concerned about China’s ongoing zero Covid policy.
นีรนุช said “If Chinese buyers and investors fail to come back to Thailand in the second half of 2022, developers must adjust their release dates to accommodate the circumstances.”
Neeranuch says locations in outer city areas saw the largest number of launches because plots in inner city areas were scarce and their prices were too high to do affordably-priced units while developers today want to tap the mass market segment.
Almost 80% of the total launch in this period had starting prices of 1.2 million baht and lower per unit,
meaning that the new supply aimed at real demand whose purchasing power was weaker amid rising living costs.
Further north in Rangsit, locals are looking to buy an affordable place to call home,
while those in Thonburi across the river wanted buildings near the MRT Blue Line. Students and employees of the government and state-owned companies preferred Vibhavadi,
on Mueang, Chaeng Wattana, Lak Si, Pak Kret and Nonthaburi.
As for new apartment buildings in the central business district, supply has been limited since the beginning of the year,
but the units in the second half would be higher because developers are betting on Thailand’s reopening.
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Aspiring bartenders can dream again, because now that Thailand’s nightlife is ‘officially’ back on, venues are slowly employing again.
The country’s pubs, bars, massage parlors and other venues are picking up the pieces after having to lay off employees during the pandemic.
This news comes after Thailand stopped requiring such venues to call themselves ‘restaurants’ on June 1, instead allowing them to legally reopen.
However, venues still face a massive hurdle with Thailand’s midnight closing time. On top of the stingy close time,
venues have also been asked not to hold promotional events in order to avoid overcrowding that could lead to new infection clusters.
When Thailand’s venues first reopened, several business owners said the re-opening was pointless as long as the midnight close time was enforced.
One owner of a venue on Khao San Road told the Bangkok Post that the government’s rigid clinging to Covid restrictions,
including requiring overseas arrivals to take out expensive insurance coverage, is driving foreign tourists to neighbouring countries.
One bar owner complained that “It has been more than 2 years since the outbreak and we here in Khao San are up to our ears in debt.
Yet when the outbreak is easing the government is still acting paranoid.”
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You’re not a true Bangkok governor if you don’t promise to fix the city’s traffic.
Newly elected Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt intends to introduce a so-called “intelligent transportation system” to fix the city’s endemic traffic congestion.
The 56 year old governor says he is in the process of putting together a joint working group consisting of related transportation departments and wants to have the program in place and up and running by next summer.
He said officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be transferred to work at the Traffic Police Division headquarters to coordinate efforts in the event of floods,
trees downed by storms and similar incidents, which are the responsibility of the BMA. In the case of a broken BMTA bus blocking traffic,
the BMA will promptly coordinate its removal from traffic lanes.
He also revealed that only about 100 of more than 50,000 security cameras operated by the BMA are being used for traffic management purposes.
Chadchart says that one of the key factors hindering the improvement of Bangkok’s traffic management
is that the traffic flow at major intersections is still manually controlled by traffic police who are not updated on traffic conditions in connected areas.
The intelligent traffic management system will help plug this gap and improve the efficiency of the traffic command centre as a whole.
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The Bangkok Marathon returns to the city for the 33rd time on November 20 after a 2 year absence.
Now that Covid measures are being relaxed, people in Thailand can look forward to enjoying more events and concerts.
Pop sensation Justin Bieber had no problem selling out his show at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok on Sunday November 6,
and some tickets being resold at the overinflated prices. Some were resold at double the price of the original, while the cost of special seats hit 1 million baht.
As for the Bangkok Marathon – the kingdom’s biggest international running event, runners will start at the front of the Grand Palace,
and 4 different competitions are available to competitors of all skill sets: a full marathon of 42 kilometres, half-marathon of 21 kilometres,
a mini-marathon of 10 kilometres, and micro-marathon of 5 kilometres. I personally prefer my daily 7-eleven run.
Runners can apply online via bkkmarathon.com or gotorace.com until August 15 or book offline with the Thai Health and Jogging Run Club at Rajamangala National Stadium.
All participants are required to have at least 2 vaccine doses.
The Director of the Public Relations Department, Wirut Rachtawat,
says 18,000 runners are expected to join the event because many runners have been missing and asking about the event for 2 years.
Meanwhile, Pattaya is looking to one-up this event by launching a bikini beach race in October. I may reluctantly have to go cover it.
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