Golden City’s Rise and Fall A tale of ambition and crisis.
Look at Muang Thong Thani. This sprawling development in Nonthaburi Province started as a vision. Mongkol Kanjanapas founder of Bangkok Land had a dream. He envisioned a self-contained satellite city. He amassed thousands of rai of land. He planned a metropolis on the northern outskirts of Bangkok. This was in the 1970s. The area was then mostly undeveloped paddy fields.
The 1980s saw Bangkok boom. Land prices soared. Mongkol’s son Anant took over in the late 1980s. He refined his father’s dream. He wanted Muang Thong Thani to rival Hong Kong’s new towns. Construction began in earnest during Thailand’s economic boom of the early 1990s. High-rise condos apartment blocks office and retail buildings arose. Even flatted factories were built. Anant’s vision was ambitious. It aimed to house hundreds of thousands of residents. Australian architects and French construction firms were involved. This rapid growth was fueled by foreign investment.
However this rapid expansion proved unsustainable. By the mid-1990s the market was collapsing. Buyers defaulted on payments. Bangkok Land found itself in deep financial trouble. The 1997 Asian financial crisis hit hard. Bangkok Land’s value plummeted. The project almost became one of the greatest planning disasters of the 20th century. Debt restructuring saved the company.
The 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok offered a lifeline. The Muang Thong Thani Sports Complex was hastily completed. It became the Impact exhibition and convention center. This large complex is now a major revenue source. The Impact center is one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. It has helped Muang Thong Thani recover. Though the luxury projects remain mostly empty.
The Pink Line MRT extension directly serves the Impact venues. This shows a new wave of measured development. More shopping malls and retail complexes are being built. They cater to local and visitor spending. Muang Thong Thani is still growing even if it never fully achieved self-containment. Most residents commute to work in Bangkok. Muang Thong Thani a testament to the ambitious visions. It also shows the fragility of rapid economic growth. It is a living example of Thailand’s rise and fall in the 1990s. And yet it continues to evolve. A golden city that endures.