OPINION

Public-good transport

Re: "Flat fare a good start," (BP, July 17).

Flat public transit fares are laudable as a first step. Our public transport mindset should be: "An advanced city is not one where the poor own cars, but one where the rich use public transport" (Enrique Penalosa of Bagota, Columbia). We should follow advanced countries, where most public transport operates at acceptable financial loss as a public good, like public education or utilities.

The public transport loss is made up in many ways. For example, land and rents along our BTS lines rise exponentially, boosting income, business, and property taxes. Car use drops, saving on congestion, pollution, road maintenance and costs from traffic deaths. Low fares enable low-income residents to service larger areas; seniors, youth, and the disabled are able to participate in society more. Cities with good transit attract talent and investment.

Learn from other cities: Taipei has integrated MRT and bus systems, and its YouBike bike-sharing system gives strong first-/last-mile support for transit users. Taipei's land use emphasises compact, walkable development.

Hong Kong has profitable integration of rail and real estate development. Tokyo has dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods, with easy access to transit reducing the need for cars. Rethink public transport to serve the public good.

Barely holding up

Re: "Russia shines", (PostBag, July 14).

I would prefer to praise Mr Jellsion for writing something accurate and insightful, but alas his latest letter is woefully off the mark. He describes Russia as "a thriving, beautiful nation" and suggests Thai economists should visit "for inspiration."

Elvira Nabiulinna, the central bank of Russia's governor, has managed to guide the Russian economy through a minefield of Western sanctions by adopting the renminbi for foreign exchange purposes. But despite this and other measures, the Russian economy is now struggling under high interest rates (>21%), skilled labour shortages, and vanishing oil income.

Thai central bankers already know how to artificially manipulate the exchange rate, a trip to Russia would be simply a useless junket.

Data centre rethink

Re: "An intelligent approach to AI governance", (Business, June 25) and "Google to invest in Thai data centre, cloud infrastructure", (Business, Sept 30, 2024).

Allowing tech giants to build data centres provided economic benefits for municipalities, particularly in cold climates, without imposing major environmental drawbacks. The naturally cool environment helps lower power consumption for cooling IT equipment, making these facilities more energy-efficient while bolstering the economy.

However, as the demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services increases among tech giants like Google, the electricity requirements for operating data centres (DCs) have skyrocketed. This spike in power demand has prompted data centre operators to seek locations that offer long-term energy support, as well as benefits such as tax breaks and relaxed environmental regulations.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says global electricity demand from data centres is expected to more than double by 2030, rising from 415 TWh in 2024 to around 945 TWh by 2030.

This suggests Thailand will experience a CGR of about 15.6% from 2024 to 2030 if it pursues the data centre operation business as a growth stimulus. Without data centres the CGR for Thailand's overall electricity demand is projected at 6.37%.

A medium size data centres will likely require over 40GWH per year by 2030; more than a car assembly plant which requires 1,000-3,000 workers.

Google has promised to invest $1 billion in Thailand and has commissioned Deloitte Consulting to come up with an eight-page public relations brochure highlighting the project's advantages. Notably, the brochure does not mention any drawbacks.

Deloitte Consulting asserts that over 13,000 jobs will be created as part of the data centre initiative. However, global statistics show that medium-sized data centre usually employ around 200 individuals. Most operational tasks are conducted remotely and in conjunction with other centres, which means that local staff will handle lower-level maintenance responsibilities.

If Thailand is to grant licences to businesses that will do more damage to its environment, there should be other overriding considerations.

For example, it is clear that in the current bilateral trade negotiations, the USA is looking for more than a better deal in hard goods trading. This data centre issue, at a minimum, should be considered a part of the Thailand-USA trade package.