rooster59 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 The 35 billion baht white elephant – Phuket’s light rail By Tim Newton “About the only thing feasible in this rendering is the blue sky.” Spending 35 billion baht on infrastructure that few will use, is planned on the least useful route and will cause mayhem for a 3-5 year build time is a waste of money. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) is currently chatting to the private sector and local administrative bodies to support Phuket’s planned light-rail/tram project. Firstly, where will it travel? Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/the-35-billion-baht-white-elephant-phukets-light-rail -- © Copyright The Thaiger 2019-01-13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoilSpoil Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 The 6 P's come to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammieuk1 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Its crashed before its got off the drawing board and is now the first transport scheme to save lives???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinginKata Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 It's amazing that this fraud/dream has been exposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mok199 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Nice surreal picture,but i don't see any packs of ferral dogs, food carts ,tour buses, motorcycle and meter taxis blocking footpaths,little grade school drop outs on loud scooters and the general chaos that makes Thailand so ''special'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helloagain Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Total crap idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grego49 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 16 minutes ago, helloagain said: Total crap idea Agreed,but somewhere along the tracks there would be a lot of rorting as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Croc Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 This is just a personal opinion piece by Tim Newton, he's not announcing anything new other than the current stage of progress. The suitability, cost and routing of the project have all been discussed ad- infinitum on this forum before. He has opined the worst possible scenarios to match his narrative, and if any wish to take his opinions as gospel he has a series of top 10 lists you could follow. I just wish the media here would concentrate on real news, including that which happens on a weekend, and be less of a conduit for advertising and opinion pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
car720 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 1 hour ago, mok199 said: Nice surreal picture,but i don't see any packs of ferral dogs, food carts ,tour buses, motorcycle and meter taxis blocking footpaths,little grade school drop outs on loud scooters and the general chaos that makes Thailand so ''special'' neither do most of the Thais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emster23 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 White elephants have lots of ivory to poach, which is probably reason behind most "improvements" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burma Bill Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 The cost of building a tunnel under Patong Hill alone would be astronomical! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 4 hours ago, rooster59 said: where will it travel? "The tram stops avoid most of the tourist hot spots along the west coast of the island and concentrates on locals living along the main Thepkasattri trunk from Thalang to Phuket Town and then Chao Fah East to Chalong. Patong? Kata? Karon? Surin? Mai Khao? Kamala? Nowhere near them." Well, that may be due to those properties owned by existing owners might benefit by in higher land values with a rational tram route whereas recent speculators who might promote the irrational planned route more recently acquired land rights along the planned route. And of course any hypothetical payments for "government services" might be in the offering for such promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oziex1 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 3 hours ago, grego49 said: Agreed,but somewhere along the tracks there would be a lot of rorting as usual. The gravy train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxx Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I was reminded of this Guardian article from a few days ago: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/08/how-an-emerging-african-megacity-cut-commutes-by-two-hours-a-day-dar-es-salaam It strongly suggests that a good bus system is the cheap, effective way to go. Not some fancy vanity project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChipButty Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I feel like i've lived on a building site for 20 years finish all the others first, a good bus system would work better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natway09 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 A combined rail/road tunnel should have been finished 20 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulic Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Those who will feed at the trough support it fully, those who may be able to use it because of its planned route support if only partially because it may not be built as planned. Who knows, it may be their land/house expropriated, and the rest of the public does not support the construction at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeycu Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 7 hours ago, mok199 said: Nice surreal picture,but i don't see any packs of ferral dogs, food carts ,tour buses, motorcycle and meter taxis blocking footpaths,little grade school drop outs on loud scooters and the general chaos that makes Thailand so ''special'' Don't forget the Thai drivers using the track to avoid the traffic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmitch Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 4 hours ago, Srikcir said: "The tram stops avoid most of the tourist hot spots along the west coast of the island and concentrates on locals living along the main Thepkasattri trunk from Thalang to Phuket Town and then Chao Fah East to Chalong. Patong? Kata? Karon? Surin? Mai Khao? Kamala? Nowhere near them." Well, that may be due to those properties owned by existing owners might benefit by in higher land values with a rational tram route whereas recent speculators who might promote the irrational planned route more recently acquired land rights along the planned route. And of course any hypothetical payments for "government services" might be in the offering for such promotion. I think it's more likely to do with the hills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oziex1 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 3 minutes ago, madmitch said: I think it's more likely to do with the hills! Build tunnels, they love their road underpasses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmitch Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 1 minute ago, Oziex1 said: Build tunnels, they love their road underpasses Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the guest Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Phuket in 10 years will become totally gridlocked. Do you think the tourists will still come? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inThailand Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 11 hours ago, the guest said: Phuket in 10 years will become totally gridlocked. Do you think the tourists will still come? We can only hope they don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Croc Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 19 hours ago, Srikcir said: "The tram stops avoid most of the tourist hot spots along the west coast of the island and concentrates on locals living along the main Thepkasattri trunk from Thalang to Phuket Town and then Chao Fah East to Chalong. Patong? Kata? Karon? Surin? Mai Khao? Kamala? Nowhere near them." Well, that may be due to those properties owned by existing owners might benefit by in higher land values with a rational tram route whereas recent speculators who might promote the irrational planned route more recently acquired land rights along the planned route. And of course any hypothetical payments for "government services" might be in the offering for such promotion. Should all infrastructure on Phuket only be built for the tourist trade, and not for locals to commute? Is that how it works in other Provinces? Personally I think there are better alternatives than this, but I also understand that not everything can be about servicing the tourist towns on the hilly west side of the island. The attitude exhibited by many that it must be all encompassing or not at all, mystifies me. I consider it to be a START in the war to overcome Phuket's sad and corrupt lack of public transport . I can envision new bus services linking the rail stations to the tourist centers and consider that would be a vast improvement on the current situation. To get any of Phuket's vast tax money back from Bangkok for local projects, instead of being spent on fast trains to China, is not something to be rejected just because it doesn't suit everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansgruber Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Theppasatri Rd will be interesting. Speeding cars and trucks trying to overtake the trams. It will be mayhem along that stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tifino Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Used to luv the overhead style train of Sentosa Island S'Pore, and the KL one to the North East... Just scale it up a 1000 times over for a bigger island! be cheaper than going to Disneyland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Croc Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 9 minutes ago, tifino said: Used to luv the overhead style train of Sentosa Island S'Pore, and the KL one to the North East... Just scale it up a 1000 times over for a bigger island! be cheaper than going to Disneyland The bosses of Phuket wouldn't allow a monorail system here. They strongly object to anything built overhead such as overpasses, u-turns or anything resembling the BTS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arithai12 Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 15 hours ago, Old Croc said: Should all infrastructure on Phuket only be built for the tourist trade, and not for locals to commute? Is that how it works in other Provinces? Personally I think there are better alternatives than this, but I also understand that not everything can be about servicing the tourist towns on the hilly west side of the island. The attitude exhibited by many that it must be all encompassing or not at all, mystifies me. I consider it to be a START in the war to overcome Phuket's sad and corrupt lack of public transport . I can envision new bus services linking the rail stations to the tourist centers and consider that would be a vast improvement on the current situation. To get any of Phuket's vast tax money back from Bangkok for local projects, instead of being spent on fast trains to China, is not something to be rejected just because it doesn't suit everybody. Things are slowly changing. The west coast has a decent bus line (smart bus) which luckily seems to be picking up, definitely popular with tourists who don't want to deal with the taxi mafia, and a few thais as well. It's slow of course, not exactly cheap for daily commutes, and a bit corrupt as sometimes I see drivers pocket the cash from the tourists instead of issuing the required rabbit card. But it's a good start and it seems to be increasing its frequency. About trams along the central backbone I don't know, seems more a good opportunity for a few to make good money with contracts and under-the-table envelopes than a sensible project with a realistic, cost-benefit efficient plan. Just the pain of construction would be horrific for a few years. But like you I welcome that at least something is being discussed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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