Why isn’t There a Road Around the Island?

The Bangbao to Salakphet Road

One of the questions many visitors to Koh Chang have, after spending five minutes looking at a map, is ‘Why isn’t there a road around the island?‘. 

The vast majority of visitors stay on the west coast, as that’s where best main beaches are.  But if you want to get away from the tourist traps and see some local life you need to head to the east and southeast of the island.  Having a road around the island would make a circular day trip easy to do. 

However, the current road is a horseshoe. There’s a gap of around 10km at the south of Koh Chang.   Meaning anyone who wants to do a day trip here has to backtrack all the way they came.   This wasn’t the plan.

A road was planned in the late 1990s and construction on it began in the early 2000s. But by 2004 it had stopped.

Nowadays part of the road, at the Salakphet end, is still in use by people heading to the remote Wai Chaek beach.  It’s not a scooter ride for the faint hearted.  What remains of the road is in an extremely bad condition.  Don’t think of trying it in a rental car.  You’ll need a vehicle you don’t mind getting scratched from overhanging branches and which has 4WD.  

The Bangbao end doesn’t lead anywhere. It is also in a very bad, almost impassible condition and ends at a river.  There was a bridge over the river, but that collapsed about 15 years ago. 

Why wasn’t it completed?

The completion of this section between Bangbao in the southwest and Salakphet in the southeast has been stalled for over 20 years due to a variety of factors:

Difficult Terrain: The interior and southern portions of the island are extremely mountainous and covered in dense jungle. These steep slopes make road construction technically challenging and expensive, leading to landslides and erosion that have now reclaimed the previous attempt at building the road

National Park Regulations: Approximately 75% of Koh Chang is protected as part of Mu Ko Chang National Park. Building through these protected areas requires strict environmental agency approvals and cabinet resolutions, as the proposed route passes through sensitive watershed areas.

Land Ownership Issues: Some sections of the intended route pass through private land where owners have historically refused to allow construction or reach an agreement for land use.

Historical Project Abandonment: Work on a connecting road originally began but was halted in 2004. Since then, various proposals have faced funding shortages or have been deprioritized by the government in favor of development on other islands.

Current Status as of 2026

While there have been recurring reports of budgets being allocated to “close the loop,” the project remains in planning stages. As of 2026, the primary focus for major infrastructure has shifted toward the potential Koh Chang Bridge to the mainland, with construction of that not expected to begin until at least 2029.

However in January 2026 the Thai government finally approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.  This can be used for Cabinet approval or permit considerations for a period of 5 years from the notification date. 

Meaning the road is a step closer.  But still a long way off.

The route has been approved but the department of Rural Roads now needs to apply to the government for the budget.  And if nothing happens by 2031 who whole EIA process will have to start again.

In mid February 2026 Mr. Somkiat Samartkarn, President of the Natural Resources and Environment Association of Trat Province, confirmed that the project has now received approval for its impact assessment, land survey, and structural design.  In addition, the project is under the responsibility of the Department of Rural Roads, which will also allocate the budget.

The next step, during 2026, is to hire a contractor.

Mr Somkiat stated that completion date should be within 4 years. i.e. by early 2030.  This is based on a time frame of approximately 1 year to find the contractor and prepare all necessary legal documentation and contracts.  Followed by 2-3 years for construction work. 

Timeline of the Bangbao to Salakphet road

2003

We moved to Koh Chang is August 2003. At this time construction was well underway.  Our car at the time was an old Nissan Sunny. We drove this to the end of the road on pristine tarmac. Along the way there were dozens of workers. 

But it was interesting to see what they were doing. The length of the road was lined by concrete drainage ditches. And for some reason these ditches had to be inlaid with thousands of small stones.  A slow, expensive, task with no benefit to road users – other than making the drainage ditches look pretty.  This photo is from 2005.

Fun fact:  Something most people aren’t aware of is that this road was built for cyclists.  Not motor vehicles. 

This accounts for it’s width, which is less than a ‘normal’ two lane road.  It also makes sense as there were plans for a car free island floating around at this time.  The government at the time envisaged Koh Chang as an eco-friendly paradise.  Things could have been very different had Thaksin Shinawatra continued his time in power.

The most recent EIA from 2024 also refers to this original road as being a Bangbao to Salakphet cycle path. But unfortunately I can’t find any old reports of  how / why the idea of a bicycle route came about. These will be from the  mid to late 1990s and so not in any online Thai news archives. )

A couple of rest areas with shelters and bike racks were built on the stretch leading to Wai Chaek beach.  These are still there but now overgrown by jungle.  

2004

Construction stops. 

 The workers camps were dismantled and everyone went home. Leaving half a completed road, some lovely drainage ditches and a swirl of rumours as to what had happened.  It appeared to be a comment from someone in the Royal family regarding their dislike of roads in National Parks that led to doubts at government level about the plan, which in turn led to folks on the ground deciding it was better to end construction rather than risk upsetting those higher up the food chain. 

2007

The project wasn’t dead yet.  In December the Cabinet approved specific guidelines for agencies to follow when building roads in National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The document is below.  These guidelines are still in force today. A rough translation :

• New public roads are prohibited from being built.
• Existing public roads cannot have lane expansions; only surface improvements or speed calming measures are permitted.
• Surface improvements must prioritize traffic safety and be assessed case-by-case.
• Road development for conservation, study, research, or tourism should be minimal and consider environmental impacts and eco-tourism.

Also in late 2007, three routes for a new version of the Bangbao to Salakphet road were proposed.  The green and light green areas are National Park. The red route is the original, half finished route. 

The black and yellow are alternative routes which either use the partly completed road and then divert to the coastline to avoid cutting through any more of the national Park.  Or skirt the coastline the entire way – and don’t make use of the partly completed road.

 

2014

 

And then silence for a few years.  It’s worth bearing in mind that Thailand changes governments and prime ministers frequently. And money tends to get allocated to areas of the country where either pleasing voters or rewarding business partners is of primary importance.

 

There were meetings held in Salakphet and Bangbao about proposed routes in early 2014.  By this time the folks in Salakphet were a bit upset that their neighbours in Bangbao were coining it in and benefiting from the tourist masses whereas it was life as normal in Salakphet. 

 

So, what happened next?  Unsurprisingly there was an army coup in May 2014 and things went quiet again.  

 

2018

And we’re back again.  In January National Park officials were out surveying the two proposed routes for the road.  The original route in red below which had passed EIA almost 20 years earlier. And an alternative blue route – which was the black route from proposed in 2007. Park officials preferred the blue route which would involve building a road on the cliffside by the sea and thus avoiding harming too many trees.  But a road hugging the cliffs would be extremely expensive, far more than building a regular road.

 

   

And just a couple of weeks later the Prime Minister visited Koh Chang. He met local officials and talked about all the awesome infrastructure projects that he would implement if he had longer in power.  One of his aides was photographed with briefing notes for the proposed road around the island.

Thai Rath newspaper had this report which mentioned some of the proposed budgets for the infrastructure projects.  The Klong Prao reservoir, another project that was initiated over a decade earlier finally got the go ahead.  It is located inland at the southern end of Klong Prao village and is currently under construction.  It should have been completed last year, but apparently that are some ‘issues’ to overcome first.  

As of 2018 the budget for the preferred 10km of road which would skirt the coastline was 2.5 Billion Baht. Which is a lot. 

There were some dissenting voices in government. The Tourism Minister warned that Koh Chang could turn into the next Hong Kong if the road around the island and bridge were built.

But as the Prime Minister had given his blessing, it looked like something might happen.  (Spoiler: It didn’t)

2022 –  There was new signs of life.

In February Siam Rath newspaper reported that the Department of Rural Roads had instructed consultants to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment.  The route at first glance appeared pretty much identical to the preferred route from 4 years prior.  But there was one key difference.  Instead of being built on the side of the cliffs it would run on the land but very close to the shoreline.  This would vastly decrease the cost and would also include land bridges for animals who might want to come out of the jungle and get to the ocean for whatever reason. 

The aim was to have the EIA completed and approved by late 2022 which would allow for funding in 2023 and, fingers crossed, start of construction in 2024.  The report also noted that this is the fourth time an EIA has been done for the road project.

Two were initiated by Mr. Thira Salakphet, former MP for Trat, but not implemented due to the cost and because of long standing concerns about the road going through the National Park. And a third because of the extremely high cost. 

Then in April, NBT Thai news report on a local government meeting on Koh Chang regarding the route. Old plans were reviewed but the main talking point was the three options for end points in Bangbao.  The red route is the original. Yellow is a short cut using current dirt roads. Purple would use the existing road to the now defunct Grand Lagoona / Aunchaleena Resort.

There is a key difference, the road now going inland rather than along the shoreline, is shown in this 2022 plan.

In October 2022 images were released on a dedicated Facebook page of  more detailed plans which includes nine bridges and a viewpoint in the middle of the route. The EIA was completed in November.  

A virtual tour of the entire route was made.   It’ll be interesting to see if the final version bears any resemblance to this rendering.

Happy days! Does this mean construction can begin?

No. 

There’s more red tape to overcome first. 

2023

August 2023 and Manager Online newspaper reports on the progress of the proposed road and bridge.  At this time the project was awaiting approval from the Office of Natural Resources Environmental Policy and Planning.  If this was approved before the end of the year the next step will be to seek a waiver of the Cabinet resolution regarding the Class 1A watershed area which the road passes through in 2024.

And then construction can begin!

No.

Following this, the next step is for permission to be sought from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation for construction.

2026

It’s January and over 20 years since work stopped on the original bicycle path road. Surely it’s time?  

 This letter dated 20 January is from the Environment Committee Secretariat to the Director-General of the Department of Rural Roads. It communicates the resolutions from the Committee’s December 2025 meeting, specifically concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Ko Chang Ring Road construction project.

The letter informs the Department of Rural Roads of a resolution approving the EIA for the Koh Chang Ring Road project. The plan below shows the length of the new road is 11.26Km and construction budget 650 Million Baht.  

So, construction can finally start? 

Not yet.

 All this means is that the EIA report can now be sent to the Cabinet for final approval and it also be used to obtain necessary construction permit considerations for a period of 5 years from the notification date.  The clock is now ticking.

There’s five years, until January 2031 in which to get the government to approve the plan, get the construction permits and, most importantly a guarantee of funding, and then work can begin.  It is envisaged that the construction period will be 2 years.

February 2026:

The President of the Natural Resources and Environment Association of Trat Province, confirms that budget allocation won’t be an issue as the project is under the responsibility of the Department of Rural Roads, which will also provide the budget. The next step is to hire a contractor.  Construction work is expected to begin in early 2027 and take 2-3 years.  The expected completion date is early 2030 at the latest. 

Next update will hopefully be one where a contractor has been found and a date for construction to begin confirmed.