The world-renowned luxury hotel chain Okura-Nikko Hotels is expanding its presence in the capital of Thalanda. At the moment, 3 hotels of this brand have already been opened in Bangkok. (The Okura Prestige Bangkok,Hotel Nikko Bangkok,Jal City Bangkok originally scheduled to open on May 8. 2022)).

 The new project is called Grand Nikko Bangkok Sathorn and is scheduled to open in 2025.

 Grand Nikko Bangkok Sathorn will offer 405 guest rooms, each with a standard area of about 40 square meters, including 36 guest rooms designed for longer stays. The hotel will offer an all-day dining facility, a teppanyaki restaurant and a restaurant serving general Japanese cuisine. In addition, there will be a rooftop bar on the 34th floor—the top floor—offering panoramic views across Bangkok. There will also be an executive lounge, fitness center, spa and banquet facilities catering to both leisure and business guests.

Top 10 property developers in Thailand.

Sansiri- XT Ekkamai, Kawa Haus Khun,by Yoo etc.Pruksa Real Estate-Chapter One Flow The Reserve Phahol-Phradipat,Fuse Chan Sathorn etc.AP (Thailand)-Life Asoke Hype, Life One Wireless, Centro Bangna Km7 etc.Land&Houses- The Room,The Key Sathorn,Bangkok Sathorn etc.LPN Development-Lumpini Park,Lumpini Ville, Lumpini Place etcAnanda Development-Ideo,Elio, Ashton etc.Supalai-Supalai Place,City Home Ratchada-Pinklao, Supalai Wellington etc.SC Asset-Grand Bangkok Boulevard, The Gentry Sukhumvit,Chambers On Nut etc.Noble Development- Noble BE19, Noble Revo Silom, Noble Reffine etc.Major Development Estate Co., Ltd.-Metris, Maestro, Auguston 22 etc.

BANGKOK -- Top Thai retail developer Central Pattana will spend 120 billion baht ($3.7 billion) over five years to further bulk up its shopping center network under plans announced Tuesday.

Fourteen malls will be added by 2026, raising the total to 50. Residential projects will increase by 45 to hit 68. The portfolio of hotels will grow by 35 projects to reach 37. The company will add three more office building projects, bringing the tally to 13. About half of the new developments will be in mixed-use commercial complexes.

Existing commercial facilities will receive face-lifts as well. Central Pattana will finish remodeling a site at CentralWorld, a shopping complex in downtown Bangkok. Japanese department store chain Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings  in 2020.

Some spending will go to digitalization. A business and digital transformation team has an investment budget of 450 million baht for 2022, CEO Wallaya Chirathivat said.

Central Pattana, part of retail conglomerate Central Group, also aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Efforts toward this goal will include providing electric-vehicle charging stations and installing solar power systems. (Nikkei Asia).

Good news.

As the world's attention remains focused on the war between Russia and Ukraine, more than 100 nations are convening in Kenya this week to wage their own war -- against plastic waste. Delegates -- including those from Thailand are expected to take the first steps toward establishing a historic global framework for a legally binding plastic treaty -- touted to be the most ambitious environmental pact since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The move is vital if it's not already too late as plastic continues to snarl up the worlds waterways and contaminate the food chain.

According to the United Nations' Environment Programme (Unep), one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute globally, while up to five trillion are used worldwide every year. Half of these are recycled, while the rest end up in landfills or are discarded into canals, waterways and city tributaries which ultimately end flow out into the ocean.

The situation is no less worrying in Thailand even though the current government has laid out its "Roadmap on Plastic Waste Management" a 20-year masterplan spanning 2018-2037 with a goal of achieving net zero waste at the end.

The blueprint calls for a scaled-up action plan and includes the ban on single-use plastics, straws and styrene foam-based food containers that came into force on Jan 1. On a macro level, the masterplan aims to create a recycling industry to accommodate its ambition of achieving a Bio-Circular Green Economy (BCG).

But the Thai example shows that it is easier to write policy than put it into practice.

In 2020, Thais produced a mountain of disposed-of plastic -- 700,000 tonnes of polystyrene-based food containers; 1.72 million tonnes of plastic cups and straws; and 1.17 million tonnes of plastic bags in all. Shockingly, while Thais consume 100 million plastic straws a day, the kingdom's recycling rate is only 25%.

That is because the policy has not gone far enough and does not cast its net wide enough to trigger behavioural change. An initiative to tax packaging materials made of glass, aluminium, and paper and plastic packaging has gone nowhere after being floated 20 years ago by the Pollution Control Department and the Finance Ministry. Change then could have saved great expense now.

As a result, Thailand's waste management remains reliant on incineration and landfills. For example, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is reported to spend seven billion baht each year on waste disposal yet only 10-50 million baht on efforts to recycle it. (Bangkok Post).

Life in the capital of the kingdom will become safer! The Metropolitan Police Bureau and the city administration are working together to replace the old video surveillance cameras, as well as install new cameras and software for police officers. These cameras will allow the police to quickly respond to crimes and incidents in the city.