DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (SEA) AND SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL (SA) PROCESS FOR THE SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES IN ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (AEC):A CASE STUDY OF SAVANNAKHET - MUKDAHAN

Abstract

Southeast Asia Nations gathered together to strengthen its mutual economic and social developments. One of the important corporations is the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), a project linking countries on the Mekong Sub-region with roads, which lies across from the West Bank at Mawlamyine in Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the east coast of Danang in Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The route passes through four countries including Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Kingdom of Thailand, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Accordingly, these countries have set up special economic zones along the EWEC including Savan-Seno special economic zone in Laos and Mukdahan special economic zone in Thailand in order to accommodate commercial activities. However, the study found out that the developments brought about environmental and social impacts to the areas, which could be even more severe if not managed properly. This reason is the importance of this study. The study had been done via the framework and tools for sustainable development called Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal (SA) to develop a questionnaire that used in the in-depth interview with a group of 15 people that involved directly in the developments to explore more understanding about current situations and important factors of the developments. As consequences, the study gained deep understanding about the current developments that needed to be managed. As a result, the study found out that the current state of the development in the target areas could cause severe problems. Therefore, this study established the New Integration of SEA and SA Process for the Special Economic Zones in Savannakhet and Mukdahan. Further, the Process is flexible and suitable to be applied in other special economic zones. The Process integrated SEA and SA processes into the 11 key success factors of the sustainable development that had been found in the study. These key success factors are 1) Public education and understandings of stakeholder 2) Development of educational system 3) International standard implementation 4) Zoning and infrastructures 5) Holistic management 6) Policy, legal and enforcement 7) Management structure 8) Expenditure 9) Public participation 10) Public health care 11) Local business protection. Furthermore, the research proposed monitoring/ assessment indicators that in line with the international SD standards to gain the international acceptances of this study.