Spatial distribution of Bangkok city government’s expenditures on infrastructure investment

Abstract

The investments in infrastructure and services help spur Bangkok’s economy to faster growth. All the public facilities and services stimulate Bangkok’s economy to strong competitiveness among the Southeast Asia regions which helps increase employment opportunities. Generally, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) gets the largest portion of the national government's financial support among other local governments, as the city is the primary engine of national economic growth and the center of the country’s economic activities. Although the city is facing a net registered population decline situation, in these past years, it is obvious that Bangkok Metropolitan Administration keeps its interest in providing infrastructure projects far and wide under the Bangkok boundary. The proof is that the annual budgets distributed to the city building and services-related departments value a large portion of the total annual expenditures. Also, the annual budgets distributed to 50 district offices tend to rise over time. This paper attempts to take a study of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration infrastructure investment and the reasons impacting the budget allocation considering the spatial pattern of the budget distributed. Budgeting statistics are analyzed every two years throughout thirteen fiscal years from 2008 to 2020. This study involves content analysis together with integrating statistical and geographical tools. It solely focuses on the expenditures of Bangkok city which belongs to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The findings indicate that the BMA’s long-term development plan serves as the basis of the factor determining annual expenditure.