Pattaya-Chonburi Metropolitan Area

Pattaya-Chonburi Metropolitan Area (เขตนครพัทยา-ชลบุรี) is a conurbanation in Chonburi Province of Thailand. It comprises Pattaya City, 7 Town municipalities, and 20 Township municipalities in 5 districts with 971,556 registered inhabitants as of 2008.cn|date=January 2008 Similar to Bangkok, the accuracy of official figures is not exactly known and the actual population is believed to be around 1.5 million due to excesses of foreign labor and an increasingly growing expat population.

Pattaya-Chonburi is one of the most urbanized areas in Thailand aside from Bangkok. The Eastern Seaboard of Thailand is not only a prime tourist destination but is increasingly being developed to meet the needs of Thailand's trade infrastructure. High speed trains and plans to connect Thailand's main port in Sattahip and Laem Chabang with the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport have spawned enormous projects along these routes. Pattaya is visited by nearly 10 million people each year and with plans to redevelop Pattaya into an upper-class beach resort, the numbers rise constantly.cn|date=January 2008 The city's expatriate population is considered one of the largest in South East Asia. Chon Buri, a short way up north, is less diverse in its economy but has been a stable commercial center of the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand. The city relies on the large market in the province and is also one of Thailand's largest district outisde of Bangkok.

Further south of the Pattaya-Chon Buri region is the heavily industrialized coast. Controversy has arisen whether these sub-communities which are quickly connecting into one should be included with the metropolitan area. The number of housing projects along this coast can be compared to those in Bangkok and the city is one of the fastest growing cities in Asia. By 2020, the Bangkok-Chon Buri region is expected to be the official home of nearly 20 million Thais.

Administrative Division

Economy

Pattaya City, Laem Chabang, Si Racha, Bang Saen, and Chonburi are the center of Economic in the metropolitan area. The major sector of economics are the tourist and industrial.

Transportation

The metropolitan area served by many modes of transportaion.

The railway line from Bangkok is split from main line at Chachoengsao Junction in Chachoengsao Province and run passing through the metropolitan and terminus at the portal town of Sattahip. There are two junction in this line, Si Racha Junction is located in Si Racha for a branch line to Laem Chabang Seaport, and Khao Chi Chan Junction which is for Mab Ta Phut branch line that served an industrial estate town of Mab Ta Phut, Rayong Province.

Highways in the metropolitan area are well developed. There are many routes of highway such as Highway No.3 (Sukhumvit Road and the New Bangkok-Chonburi Motorway (Highway no.7).

Pattaya served by 2 international airport. It located about 150 km from Suvarnabhumi Airport and 45 km from U-Tapao International Airport that offered services to other Cities in Thailand and the world.

ee also

* List of metropolitan areas in Thailand by population

External links

* [http://www.dopa.go.th Thai Department of Provincial Administration]
* [http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B5 Chonburi Province in Wikipedia Thai]
* [http://www.chonburi.go.th Chunburi Province official website]
* [http://www.pattaya.go.th Pattaya City website]