Gaysorn Property announced the establishment of Gaysorn Village, an urban lifestyle village near the Ratchaprasong intersection, intended to compete with leading malls in other areas.

Gaysorn Property Co has established its own shopping node, Gaysorn Village, near the Ratchaprasong intersection to compete with other malls in Bangkok's Siam Square and Sukhumvit areas.

The company announced the establishment of the shopping and entertainment district yesterday.

Gaysorn Village comprises Gaysorn shopping centre, Gaysorn Tower, which is due to open in September, Amarin Plaza and Amarin Tower. All are located near the Ratchaprasong intersection.

The project is aimed at enhancing the shopping atmosphere in the Ratchaprasong area, with retailers seeking to cooperate to develop its commercial potential, as has happened in the US, Britain and Japan.

At the same time, it will compete with shopping projects in Siam Square and Sukhumvit's M District, belonging to Emporium and EmQuartier.

Fafuen Temboonkiat, the company's managing director, said Gaysorn Village comprises a total of 180,500 square metres of retail and office space. Of the total, 41,500 sq m is at Gaysorn shopping centre, 63,000 sq m at Gaysorn Tower, 55,000 sq m at Amarin Plaza and 21,000 sq m at Amarin Tower.

The north zone of Gaysorn Village covers Gaysorn shopping centre and Gaysorn Tower, while the south zone has Amarin Plaza and Amarin Tower, both of which are linked via a skywalk called Gaysorn Walk, which will serve as a shortcut to connect with other shopping malls in the Pratunam area.

The construction of Gaysorn Walk will be completed by September this year.

Gaysorn Village will also connect to Ratchaprasong Walk, which bridges 18 buildings in the Ratchaprasong district. Ratchaprasong Walk will be accessible in March this year.

The company also plans to renovate Amarin Plaza and Amarin Tower.

After renovations, set to be complete by 2020, the company hopes Gaysorn shopping centre will be viewed as an urban lifestyle, and not luxury centre.

Gaysorn Village further aims to serve a wider group of people.

"With total investment of 3.74 billion baht, we hope Gaysorn Village will prove itself to be a new hub of inspiration for shoppers and nearby communities," said Charn Srivikorn, chairman of Gaysorn Property Co.

In addition to Gaysorn, CentralWorld, located opposite to Gaysorn Village, also plans to allocate about 1 billion baht for a major store facelift to strengthen the image of the Ratchaprasong shopping district.

MBK shopping complex is further improving its skywalk to link the mall with Siam Discovery, Siam Center and Siam Paragon.

The construction of MBK's skywalk is almost complete and will be opened in a few months.

Mr Charn said Gaysorn Village has been connected with the Ratchaprasong Walk and Gaysorn Walk to offer visitors access to Pratunam market.

The company hopes the establishment of Gaysorn Village will boost daily traffic in the Ratchaprasong area by 50% to 450,000 people.