Andaman News Monday 18 Feb.

[NBT TV Phuket]

MiniVDO: Residents in the old town area of Phuket had their say on an underground cable project.

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Residents along the Thalang road in the old town area of Phuket attended a forum where they were briefed on the design and procedure to have power and telephone cables removed to be underground. The project is carried out by the Provincial Electricity Authority or PEA and the Office of Phuket City to create tidy and pleasant scenery for a tourist area. The residents were briefed that the electricity and telephone wires will be put under the pavement while the road will be dug up to build 14 concrete wells functioning as cable distributing centres to each house along the 350 metre Thalang Road. 157 families are reported to live along Thalang Road in the heart of Phuket city. The public hearing session was the early procedure of the project which the responsible agencies will gather and add in the project. After all details are worked out, the PEA will seek design approval and open for contractor bids. It is expected to take around 8 months to complete. The underground cable project is carried out under 6.2 million baht from the PEA while the Office of Phuket City contributes 1.7 million baht for public works.

MiniVDO: A public hearing is included in the feasibility study for a bridge to link Lanta Noi and Lanta Yai islands of Krabi.

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Government officials, local residents and all stakeholders on Thursday gathered at Southern Lanta Resort on Lanta Island to learn more and have their say on the proposed bridge to link the Lanta Noi and Lanta Yai island of Krabi. This follows the Rural Roads Department’s feasibility and environmental impact study towards the project, by having two consultant companies carry out the work. The study comprises two main parts. Part one comprises feasibilities, environment, traffic, project alternatives and bridge design, environment and economic impacts as well as public relations and public participation. The second part is surveying and detailed design, insight survey, checking earth and material as well as cost estimation. It is expected that the 600 metre long bridge will cost around 300 million baht to build.

Phuket’s Rawai local government is improving and beautifying road sides in tourist areas.

The road from the Chalong circle up to Promthep Cape and SaiYaun - Nai Harn will be kept tidy, without any garbage bins. The Rawai Mayor Arun Soros announced that his office has explained to local residents and businesses that the municipality will set a fixed schedule for garbage collection, with separate programs of wet and dry waste. The attempt is part of the road beautification project while residents are also asked to keep their premises & community tidy and clean. The program will be assessed by a village committee for the 3 or 6 month period. Mr. Arun stated that in the near future, he plans to plant bougainvillea flowers along side the roads for pleasant scenery of the tourist area on the south side of the island.

MiniVDO: The TAT and private businesses in Phuket encourage visitors to use cloth bags in an attempt to reduce plastic bag use.

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500 cloth bags were handed over to 30 hotels in Patong for tourists to borrow when they go out shopping or carry out as beach bag. The bags are introduced under the program called’ Be Clean Be Love for Patong Beach’ as part of an attempt to reduce the use of plastic bags for the island’s sake. This is the joint efforts of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Phuket Office, Patong Hotel Association and Jungceylon shopping complex. The TAT deputy director for Phuket, Phang-Nga and Krabi, Ranjuan Thongrut said the cloth bags are designed especially for tourists as the main target. It is also expected to continue into other organizations in the tourist destination like Patong and nearby.

The Phuket Excise office earned over 50 million baht revenue in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

In the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, which started 1st October 2007, the Phuket provincial Excise Office earned 50 million baht, according to the office chief Supatra Horsrisamphan’s report. The Excise office collected tax from licenses to operate sales of liquor, petrol, tobacco etc. Supatr also stated that the Department of Excise targets to earn around 20,000 million baht for tax collection under its responsibility nationwide.

Phuket’s pre-election campaign for the senator seat is inactive while Phang Nga does not set a target of percentage for voters to come out.

Fewer candidates is one of the factors for a much less active for campaigning and public interest in the up-coming senator election on March 2nd, according to the Phuket director of Election Commission Office, Suparp Akkakam. The office held a session to educate eligible voters as well as provide a stage for candidates to campaign at Rajaphat University on Februray 14th and a small number of students attended. Phuket has three candidates to run in the senator election. Meanwhile in Phang-Nga, the Election Commission declined to give a target of the number of eligible voters who are expected to come out for the senator election, despite its high record of over 80% for the general election in December 2007. Phang-Nga has only one candidate who must earn at least 20% of the all eligible voters number in the province.

Ranong launched a caravan to campaign for the senator election.

The caravan to campaign for the senator election to take place on March 2nd was marked open by the Ranong Governor Kanjanapa Keeman who also delivered policy for officials and people to ensure active and clean elections for the senate seat. The convoy went around busy communities, education institutes and market places to educate people on the procedures and the importance of the senate election as well as checking for their understanding of the election process.

MiniVDO: Residents in Srisuntorn of Thalang district in Phuket are facing a drought.

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180 families in the Srisunthorn village of Thalang district north of Phuket are facing water shortages due to a drought. They are now supplied water by water-trucks from the Srisunthorn sub-district Administration Office. The president of the office Thamrong Thantiwatchakul admitted that there is no large water source, nor water works supplies in the area and that villagers rely on wells which also get dry in this season. He explains a long term solution by laying out water supply systems linking with the on-going Bang Niew Dam reservoir. If the construction of the new reservoir is completed, it will certainly ease the water shortage in this area, he re-affirms.

MiniVDO: The aftermath of explosions on speedboats was caught on camera by a tourist.

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Last Thursday 14 February at Boat Lagoon Marina in Kor Kaew district of Phuket, there was an explosion on board one speedboat called Sakila 6, after it returned from a Koh Kai tour, and moored beside the dock near the Clubhouse. The boat’s engine had malfunctioned so the captain brought it back to check. After breaking out the fire spread quickly to another speed boat nearby, called Elixir. Other boats nearby were moved away. 2 Thai crew, injured and badly burnt, were taken to Wachira Hospital. Barry Howard, a British tourist, who was staying at Boat Lagoon at the time, filmed the aftermath on his video camera, and said all emergency units seemed to take action swiftly and even though he saw the accident, it didn’t put him off boat trips:

New Phuket scheme for waste separation especially glass, initiated at Surin Beach Park

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The amount of waste the tourist island of Phuket is facing is unbelievably huge and is causing concern. In the past some local governments worked on campaigning, but just this month, the central government stepped in to have the whole island actively participate in the program. Our special report today takes a close look at the initiative:

The vehicles to collect used glass moved out from Surin beach park as part of the active campaign to encourage Phuket island residents and visitors to separate glass before dumping in rubbish bins. This was just the kick off day aiming to have all 19 local governments in Phuket mobilize the program. This one day event to campaign for glass recycling took place last Wednesday comprising a seminar with clear action plans and the outdoor activities where people could bring their used glass to play games for prizes. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in cooperation with the Phuket Provincial Authority and key local governments like the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation and the Office of Phuket City. The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Mrs. Anongwan Thepsutin invited people to take part in the program. She also said the ministry will support in terms of technical advice as well as to push for the requested extra burner of the incinerator.

According to official data, Phuket is now generating over 500 tons of waste, over the capacity of the incinerator of 250 tons per day. That means at least 250 tons go to land-fill sites and that’s not enough either. Among the waste, around 75 tons were found to be used glass. It is estimated that if all households, restaurants, and businesses join hands in glass separation, Phuket will earn approximately 30 million baht per year. From now on every Wednesday garbage collection vehicles of each local government will collect glass waste which people separate. Moreover with a private company Bangkok Glass joining the campaign, some incentives are also promised to participants as Dr Monthip Tabuganon, Director General of the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion reaffirmed: Dr Monthip stressed that even though this time they focus on glass, they still encourage people to recycle other material. So let’s hope that the campaign will result in a reduction of waste going in for disposal at the incinerator and that we would see more comprehensive waste separation on Phuket Island.

Interview - Khemawan Vettayawaikoon, Specialist in Cornea & Refractive Eye Surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket

To see or download mini-video, go to http://news.prd.go.th/news_detail.php?newsid=216287

Our interview is with Khemawan Vettayawaikoon, Diplomate Board of Ophthalmology, a Specialist in Cornea & Refractive Eye Surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, as a new Lasik Eye machine was officially opened there on Saturday 16 February. First she tells us about the processes to measure eyes and the technical meanings of her specialized job: ……. Contact: www.PhuketHospital.com Tel 1719 or 076 254425 ex. 1202 [email protected]

from Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) 8.30am + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, both broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket & Phuket Cable TV Channel 1 at 7, 10.30 or 11pm, Monday 18th February 2008 & http://news.prd.go.th