Investment in manufacturing from the early 1960s, particularly from over- seas, expanded Bangkok's manufacturing base and stimulated industrial development, which sprawled into adjacent provinces(Kammeier 1984: 21). Of the four administrative areas comprising the so-called Greater Bangkok Area, the municipality of Bangkok held 54 per cent of industrial establishments, Thonburi municipality 20 per cent, Samut Prakan province 20 per cent and Nonthaburi province(later become a dormitory resi- dential district) less than 4 per cent(Donner 1978: 827).