Phuket Residents Protest New B465Mn Provincial Hall

[webfact]

Phuket residents protest new B465mn provincial hall
Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- More than 200 Phuket residents protested today against the construction of the new provincial hall.

The protesters gathered this morning at Sanam Chai in Phuket Town, opposite the current provincial Hall (map here), to express their concerns that the proposed new hall will negatively affect the lifestyle of people in the area.

Former Rassada Mayor Suratin Lianudom and former Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) member Rangsan Kongthong led the area residents to meet Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut to file a complaint against the construction of the new hall.

“We are afraid that the new provincial hall will have a negative impact on the neighborhood,” said Mr Suratin.

“Residents are concerned about losing the football field and tennis courts, which they use not only for sport but also for social and community events,” he said.

“People gather at the football field in the afternoon and evening, and we use it for fairs and to celebrate HM The King’s Birthday,” he added.

Mr Suratin promised that protests would be ongoing and that the group would invite more people to join. To show their determination, the protesters said they planned to set up a tent to allow them to stay overnight at Sanam Chai.

Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada received their complaint as Governor Maitri is currently on duty abroad, and tried to convince the protesters that their fears were unwarranted.

“The new provincial hall will be constructed where the tennis courts are now. New tennis courts will be built at the back of the present provincial hall. We will still use Sanam Chai as a place to hold events and people will be allowed to use the [new] tennis courts and soccer field as usual,” he stated.

While Vice Governor Chamroen was talking to the protesters, some of them showed their dissatisfaction by shouting and making loud noises.

V/Gov Chamroen asked the protesters to send a representative to discuss the issue with him, but they refused.

The governor explained that the present provincial hall has been in use for 105 years.

“The building is showing its age and it is too small,” he said. “It is crowded when many people come together at the same time.

“We received a 450-million-baht budget from the Cabinet to build a new provincial hall at Sanam Chai. The new building will be five-stories with a meeting hall that can hold 500 people,” he said

“Our goal is to facilitate people. The new hall will be beneficial to both government organizations and local residents. We have to find a way to explain this better to the protesters,” said Mr Chamroen.

The budget for the building and how the money will be allocated was explained by Tawee Homhuan, Chief of the Phuket Office of Public Works and Town and Country Planning.

“We have received the budget for fiscal years 2013-2015 to construct the new hall,” he said. “Now we are starting to write the time line of the project. The construction will take about 700 days.”

According to Mr Tawee, the budget breaks down as follows:
16,600sqm building – 306mn baht.
Parking for 400 cars, half underground, half around the building – 73mn baht
Meeting hall and canteen – 58mn baht
Area around the hall (roads, pathways and perimeter wall) – 19mn baht
Landscaping – 7mn baht.
“The total budget is around 465.5 million baht,” Mr Tawee said.

After the new building is opened, the old one will be converted into a museum, Vice Governor Chamroen added.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-residents-protest-new-B465mn-provincial-hall-20394.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-03-05

[bearpolar]

couldnt that be done for about 20 mil baht?

[madmitch]

They have the budget, the funds have been "allocated", the project will go ahead.

[steelepulse]

That landscaping budget seems a bit low doesn't it ? I wonder who's cousin will get this cash cow?

[belg]

7 million for landscaping at 300 baht salary per day = 23333 working days worth or almost 64 years worth of working days

[taninthai]

Someone somewhere is goons haveca very healthy bank balance from this.....

[IsaanUSA]

couldnt that be done for about 20 mil baht?

lol, not even close.

[Valentine]

The OP stated they would build new tennis courts but I did not see this in the expenditure. I think currently they are the only public courts in Phuket which used to be full everyday in the later afternoon early evenings. One of my daughters learned to play tennis there & the coaching was cheap.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Valentine

[Guest]

Doesn't Saphan Hin sports are have tennis courts? At least there is plenty of other sports possibilities.

Some tennis courts, but I'm not sure what is the policy of using these.

http://goo.gl/maps/OLRiz

Edited March 6, 2013 by Guest

[blackthorn2005]

"Phuket residents protest" Say no more, that is the culture here, it is easier to protest than it is to do a decent days work.