I live in Thailand for over 15 years and things like this would regularly happen. I think it is quite obvious that this is not in any way meant to benefit the regular joe citizen but like you said, just the elites. If they really wanted to help the common man they would maybe look into getting the people that actually build these things better wages. I knew guy that worked in construction management and he would regale me with the tales of how payment and working conditions are so bad for construction workers that very few Thai people even try to take the job on. Instead, it is mostly illegal workers from neighboring countries.
If this goes though it will not surprise me and it is just like all of the long-term visas that Thailand loves to talk about but they only apply to the sort of people that are already millionaires.
I think that if they do pass it that the media will be suppressed and it will just become a new regulation that nobody other than the developers even knows that it happened.