Mainland and Japanese officials have reportedly expressed their support for the construction of a giant 810 billion baht (about HK$147.25 billion) canal through southern Thailand, which would reduce shipping times from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.
Joe Horn, a financial adviser to the Thai senate committee that is evaluating the scheme, said: 'China already supports it. They like the idea.
'The question is, will they support it with money? Japan is very keen as well,' The Business Times reported yesterday.
The mammoth project, which has been mooted for decades, has been revived by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Two parliamentary committees have been set up to gauge international support for the plan and tackle the critical issue of funding.
Mr Horn said that members of the senate committee - known as the Ad Hoc Senate Committee to Study the Feasibility of the Thai Canal Project - had canvassed even Singapore officials to back the scheme, the paper said.
Singapore, which is home to the world's busiest transshipment port that sits at the southern end of the Straits of Malacca, is seen as being one of the principal losers from the construction, should it be completed.
Singapore's port, run by PSA, is already facing increasing competition from the nearby Malaysian Port of Tanjung Pelapas, which has already lured away two of PSA's principal customers.