The lieutenant-general continued by saying the bureau planned to ask the national government to raise the status of Three Pagodas Pass from a temporary checkpoint to a permanent one. Thai temporary checkpoints have shorter opening hours and are not recognised points for the transhipment of goods.
Lieutenant-general Prousoontorn explained that Three Pagodas Pass’s current opening hours of 08:00 to 18:00 were too short for tourists to spend much time in the Payathonzu area of Myanmar. He said another reason to upgrade was that goods being shipped into Thailand had to be routed through more distant checkpoints and this only increased the end cost for consumers.
At present, Thailand has 37 permanent checkpoints on its borders with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. There are 47 temporary ones. The nearest permanent one to Three Pagodas Pass is at Phu Nam Ron. International tourists are able to activate latter entries on multiple-entry visas by crossing into Myanmar at Phu Nam Ron.
Thai Immigration Bureau plans to upgrade Kanchanaburi checkpoint
News in Asia
The Immigration Bureau of Thailand has put forward a proposal that could see a Kanchanaburi province border crossing upgraded. On an official visit to the Three Pagodas Pass checkpoint over the weekend, immigration boss Nathathorn Prousoontorn explained that the border crossing with Myanmar was becoming strategically more important as a tourism and commerce link between the neighbouring nations.