Month: September 2000
- Phuket
Boat operators warned over Similans
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Boat operators wanting to enter the Similan Islands Marine National Park before November 2 have been warned that they must get special permission first, or face action for contravening the National Parks Act of 1961. The warning was issued after two vessels were halted on Wednesday by Wittaya Hongwiangchan, who took over as the park’s Chief in May.…
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Councilors arrested for corruption
PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: Thirty heavily armed officers from the Bangkok-based Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday swooped on the Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and arrested the president and 15 other members. Those arrested were charged with soliciting bribes in return for approving an 18-million-baht road construction project. Some were also charged with illegal possession of weapons. Pol Maj…
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Start of hotel tax postponed
PHUKET TOWN: Members of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today voted to postpone the introduction of the controversial tax on hotel room revenue for one month. At the meeting, the members decided that collection of the tax should be postponed until November 1, and that the rate should be 0.5%. This rate will hold until September 30, 2001, after…
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Airport throughput up in August
PHUKET: This year’s low season numbers continue to be impressive, according to the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.23% rise in passengers using the airport in August, compared with August 1999. The statistics show that 294,733 passengers went through the airport in August, compared with 272,326 in the same month last year. The number…
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Hotels continue to batter OrBorJor
PHUKET: With just three days to go before the new provincial hotel tax comes into force, hoteliers have continued to assail the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) with criticism and threats of lawsuits and even industrial action. During a meeting at the Patong Resort yesterday, with mostly middle-level employees from 140 Patong hotels, the hotels argued that the way the Phuket…
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No more dog slaughters: Governor
PHUKET: It’s official: there will be no more killing of stray dogs in Phuket except in the case of individual animals that pose a threat to the public. The ruling came after a meeting of provincial officials and their counterparts from the Phuket Town Municipality, chaired by the Governor of Phuket, Charnchai Soontharamut. The meeting came on the heels of…
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Bus drivers win dispute
PHANG NGA: More than 70 sorng taeow (local buses) blocked Tai Muang Beach Rd in Phang Nga on Monday in a successful protest against an increase in fees demanded by the province’s transport concession holder. The contract between the sorng taeow drivers and the concession holder, Phuket Sa Ha Yan Yont Khon Sog Co Ltd, required the drivers to pay…
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Hotel tax: OrBorJor faces more hostility
PHUKET: Leaders of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today went out to explain the proposed new hotel tax to the island’s hotels. They found themselves facing hostile and querulous audiences of mostly middle-level hotel employees – hotel owners and senior managers mostly stayed away. Neither the Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) nor the Thai Hotels Association (THA) was represented. In…
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IBAP holds inaugural meeting
PHUKET TOWN: The fledgling International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) held its inaugural meeting today at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, drawing a capacity crowd of 73 people. The meeting was held to introduce the concept and aims of the IBAP and to solicit discussion, questions and suggestions from those who attended. Keynote speaker Dr Prasit Koysiripong, President of the…
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Kao Mai wins OrBorJor by-election
PHUKET: Chockchai Itsarolan won Saturday’s by-election for a vacant seat representing Muang District on the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor). The by-election was held to replace Yada Palimapan, who resigned her seat recently in order to run as a Thai Rak Thai Party candidate in parliamentary elections to be held before the end of this year. K. Chockchai, a member…
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Eight arrested for illegal fishing
MAITON ISLAND: Officers from Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office have arrested eight Thais and impounded two boats caught double-trawling in a protected marine area. Intipol Khwathai of the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office told the Gazette that he received, via the Phuket Town Police, an anonymous tip that illegal fishing was taking place around Maiton Island. The area is part of a…
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National park fees rise by 1,900 pc for foreigners
NAI YANG: In accordance with a nationwide price increase announced in August, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) is to raise its entrance fee for Sirinath Marine National Park by 1,900% – for foreigners but not for Thais. The entrance fee for foreign adults is to rise from 10 baht to 200 baht a person, while the fee for children under…
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Health system staggering under foreign laborers
PHUKET TOWN: Health officials here have urged the Thai government to force employers of foreign manual laborers to bear the cost of medical treatment for their workers. Their plea came after revelations that the health system is staggering under the increasingly heavy costs of providing health care to both legal and illegal laborers. Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, chief of the Phuket…
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Public invited to IBAP luncheon
PHUKET TOWN: In keeping with its policies on transparency, the International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) is inviting the general public to attend its inaugural meeting next week. The event, a luncheon beginning at noon on Tuesday, September 26, at Royal Phuket City, will feature brief speeches by Dr Prasit Koysiripong, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization; Khun Piriya…
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Double alcohol ban during elections
PHUKET: Elections this weekend will put a considerable dent in drinkers’ plans, with bans on the sale of alcohol affecting both Muang District and Patong. A by-election in Muang District to fill a vacant seat in the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will be held on Saturday, so the sale and distribution of all alcoholic beverages will be barred in…
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Governor vows to walk to work
PHUKET: To raise awareness about the worldwide Car-Free Day campaign tomorrow, Phuket Governor Charnchai Soontharamut has announced that he will be walking from his house to his office. Unlike Trang Governor Chalermchai Preechanont, who told the press that he would ride a bicycle to work tomorrow, Governor Charnchai told the Gazette that he would walk instead. “It’s not very far…
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Warning over thefts during festival
PHUKET TOWN: Pol Col Chalit Tinthanee, Superintendent of the Phuket Town Police Station, has issued a warning that people should watch their belongings carefully during the coming Vegetarian Festival. Thieves, he said, take advantage of the dense crowds to pick pockets and snatch jewelry. During last year’s festival, he added, nearly 100 complaints of theft were made to police. Visitors…
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Seven laborers electrocuted in canal
PHUKET TOWN: Seven laborers working in a canal next to the bypass road were rushed unconscious to the Wachira Phuket Hospital today after being electrocuted. The men – six Cambodians and a Thai – were working in the canal when an excavator working alongside them tangled a power line, breaking the cable, which dropped into the canal and electrocuted the…
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Solution found to hotel tax dispute
PHUKET: A special committee set up by Provincial Governor Charnchai Soontharamut appears to have come up with a compromise solution to the disagreement between hotels and the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) over the OrBorTor’s planned tax on hotel rooms. According to the solution, hammered out on Friday, hotels will pay the tax from October 1, but at a reduced rate…
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Blackout canceled
PHUKET: Following its announcement of September 6 concerning planned blackouts, the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) today said that the blackout scheduled for Friday (September 22) has been canceled. On that day there was scheduled to be a blackout from Chalong Circle to Baan Laem Promthep, including Viset Rd, Baan Bangkontee, Baan Saiyuan, Nai Harn Beach, Ao Sane, Baan Kokmakham,…
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Warrants out for four in stabbing case
CHALONG: Arrest warrants have been issued for four men, one a policeman, who were involved a brawl in a karaoke restaurant in Karon last week that ended in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Supradit “Ad” Boonyawat. The killing sparked a heated protest on Friday by about 100 villagers who massed at the Chalong Police Station to demand justice for Supradit.…
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Police add spice to local BBQ
PHUKET TOWN: A husband and his wife who added a profitable sideline to their barbecued food business – selling ya bah (methamphetamine) – were arrested yesterday. Pol Maj Manus Ieamcharoenchaikul of the Narcotics Division of the Provincial Police identified the couple as Charun Thiwong, 49, and his wife Umporn, 48. The pair were arrested after selling the drug to an…
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