- Phuket News
SorPorKor papers on 3,000 rai revoked
PHUKET : The Phuket Provincial Land Reform Office (PLRO) has revoked 283 SorPorKor 4-01 land documents covering more than 3,000 rai in Phuket, following a ruling by the SorPorKor Land Commission in Bangkok that the land was not being used by poor farmers as intendedTeerawut Tawornpatanavong, Chief of the PLRO, told the Gazette that he will now begin notifying the…
- Phuket News
Gov moves to reduce drowning toll
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura is planning to erect signs at island beaches warning swimmers how to react if they get caught in a dangerous current. The idea follows a recent report that drowning claimed the lives of 13 tourists in the past eight months.“I just met with a foreign expert in sea safety, and he told me that swimmers…
- Phuket News
Sipa calls for more discounted software
PHUKET: The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) has called for all Thai software development companies to join its Small-to-Medium Enterprise Software Exchange (SMEse) project, which will provide cut-price Thai-language computer programs to the Thai private sector. To encourage developers and vendors to provide software for the project, Sipa has set up a website at www.smese.net as a marketing portal for…
- Phuket News
Police welcome B34m for guns and training
PHUKET CITY: The Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, has welcomed the allocation of 34 million baht from the central government for weapons and training for police from Phuket and surrounding areas. The money was promised by Prime Minister Thaksin on his recent whistle-stop tour of the South.Col Paween said, “PM Thaksin has granted the budget…
- Phuket News
Cool response to Pian’s policy speech
PATONG: Policies outlined in a speech today by Patong Mayor Pian Keesin at his first municipality meeting received a cool reception from the dominant opposition party in the Patong Municipal Council.K. Pian listed a number of plans that he categorized as “priority projects” for Patong.These include: finishing the first stage of the waste water treatment plant and beginning its second…
- Phuket News
Court orders Boonkeng to quit land
PHUKET: The Phuket Appeal Court today overturned the judgment of the Provincial Court and ordered businessman Boonkeng Srisansuchart to vacate two plots of land, of 21 rai and 68 rai respectively, in the Panturat Hills next to the bypass road.K. Boonkeng is a major property developer and the owner of Srisuchart Transportation.The successful appeal was made by the Provincial Land…
- Phuket News
Andaman cluster revenue set to top B100bn
PHUKET CITY: Officials from the three “Andaman Cluster” provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi met at the Thavorn Grand Hotel yesterday to discuss progress on the cluster’s strategic development plan, which has now been in effect for nine months. Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura said, “The cluster’s private sector is now generating 95 billion baht in tourism revenue annually and…
- Phuket News
Phang Nga tourism boss slams pipeline
PHUKET CITY: The President of Phang Nga Tourist Association, Anupong Sa-Nguannam, yesterday joined the growing lobby against the government’s plan to construct an oil pipeline across Phang Nga, arguing that it threatens tourism and the local fishing industry.Speaking in Phuket yesterday, he said, “It may well bring money into Thailand in addition to the money brought in by tourism but…
- Phuket News
ICEC can be anywhere – Gov
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has said he does not care where the controversial 2.5-billion-baht International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) is built, so long as it benefits Phuket.“We have wasted a lot of time on this already. The ICEC can be built anywhere that will create growth in Phuket. We won’t argue over it anymore,” he said.Previously, Gov…
- Phuket News
Saudi drowns at Laem Singh
KAMALA: Phuket’s rainy season surf has claimed another life, this time that of 27-year-old dentist Abdullah Alamri from Saudi Arabia.Pol Col Chawalit Niemwadee, Deputy Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Mr Alamri drowned while trying to rescue a woman who was in difficulties off Laem Singh Beach on Tuesday, the same day that a French visitor died…
- Phuket News
Woman’s body found in garbage dump
KAMALA: Police have not yet been able to identify a woman’s body found at the Kamala garbage dump on Thursday.The Deputy Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, Pol Lt Col Chawalit Niemwadee said that the police went to the scene after being called by local garbage collector Newin Sukprasert, who made the gruesome discovery.Col Chawalit said the woman, about 155 centimeters…
- Phuket News
Hike in city water rates likely
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City residents can expect rising water charges in the coming few years, following former mayor Phummisak Hongsyok’s decision to begin charging for water the municipality pumps from his tin mines. For years, K. Phummisak has provided the water free of charge, but he told the Gazette last month that he intends to start charging about 2 baht/cubic…
- Phuket News
Murdered politician’s daughter to run for his seat
PHANG NGA: The daughter of murdered politician Nithas Siribenjakul has announced she is to stand as a candidate in the election to replace him on the Phang Nga Provincial Administration Organization (OrborJor) council, and she has urged the police to do more to find his killers.K. Nithas, who was chairman of the OrBorJor, was gunned down at Takuapa bus station…
- Phuket News
Shoppers mob Central Festival mall
PHUKET CITY: Around 10,000 people are estimated to have passed through the doors of the new Central Festival Phuket (CFP) shopping centre within the first few hours of them opening.As she took members of the press around the complex yesterday, Wanna Thamromdee, General Manager Corporate Communication for Central Retail Corporation Ltd, told the Gazette, “There must be about 10,000 people…
- Phuket News
Gambling tops arrests again
PHUKET: Gambling has once again topped the crime statistics in Phuket, with 139 arrests recorded between August 1 and 15.The latest police figures show that other common crimes included possession or use of illegal narcotics – with 62 arrests and 200 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized – and illegal immigration, with 21 people arrested.Thirty people were arrested on prostitution-related charges while…
- Phuket News
Road accidents kill 13 in one month
PHUKET: Between June 20 and July 20, 13 people died in accidents on Phuket’s roads, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals.Of the 13 dead, 12 had been riding motorcycles, while one was in a car, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn of the Phuket Provincial Health Office reported.In the same period, 963 people were hurt in crashes…
- Phuket News
New police chief outlines plans for Phuket
PHUKET: The police general who is about to become Phuket’s new provincial commander has outlined how he plans to solve Phuket’s “many problems”.Pol Maj Gen Suvith Othong, who is currently provincial police commander for Krabi, is due to be transferred to Phuket on October 1.He will replace Pol Maj Gen Veerayuth Sittimalic, who took over the top spot in Phuket…
- Phuket News
One drowns, one disappears at Karon
KARON: A Singaporean tourist drowned off Karon Beach yesterday afternoon, while another is missing after disappearing under large waves. A third, in the same incident, was rescued from a similar fate.The three Singaporeans were all from a party of six who arrived in Phuket on Friday.A Tourist Rescue Center (TRC) worker stationed at Kata, who declined to be named, told…
- Thailand News
The love that lasts
SUPHAN BURI: Love is sweeter the second time round for Suphan Buri newlyweds Sunthon Thanabutr, 74, and Sumrith Aom-aerm, 75. The love-struck third-agers, both of whom have been married and widowed, knew each other more than half a century before their chance meeting at an “Elders’ Day” event held at Wat Pho Takuan earlier this year. K. Sumrith said that,…
- Phuket News
Port information hotline launched
CHALONG: The Phuket Port Control Center (PPCC) at Chalong Pier has launched Thailand’s first 24-hour bilingual automated port information service as part of its Phuket ePort project.By calling the Bangkok number Tel: 02-3659696, people can access information in Thai and English on port control procedures, contact details of government offices, and general information about Phuket.Dr Rattana Wetprasit, Acting Manager of…
- Phuket News
One more year for Udomsak
PHUKET: Udomsak Usawarangkura is to be Governor of Phuket for at least one more year.K. Udomsak’s name did not feature in a list of governors who are being promoted or moved on this year. As a result, he told a meeting of senior government officers this morning at Phuket Provincial Hall, “We will be working together for at least one…
- Phuket News
Policeman’s killer caught
TRANG: Police have arrested Sompong “Jorm” Prayongyam, one of the two men alleged to have been invloved in a vicious attack on Kathu police officer Pol Sgt Pramual Thongaugsorn that led to his death.Sgt Pramual, who was being treated at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital for severe head injuries, later died when his parents requested that he be removed from life…
- Phuket News
Pongtorn murder investigation shelved
PHUKET: The investigation into the assassination of land official Pongtorn Hiranyaburana, who was shot dead on the way to his home in Surat Thani in April last year, has officially been shelved, pending further evidence being presented to the police.K. Pongtorn was the Deputy Chief of the Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO) and was ordered to look into the issuing…
- Phuket News
Skeleton found in Kathu
KATHU: A human skeleton wearing a watch, bra and jeans was found among trees behind the Kathu Health Center on Wichit Songkram Rd early on Monday evening.The remains are undergoing forensic examination to determine whether they are those of Phuket native Wimonmas Bannalang, 34, a cashier at the Buffalo Steakhouse at Karon, who went missing in July.K. Wimonmas was last…
- Phuket News
Court orders Anchalee’s husband to quit land
PHUKET: The Phuket Appeal Court yesterday overturned a judgement of the Provincial Court and ordered Tossaporn Thepabutr to quit 98 rai of land in the Nakkerd Hills in Karon. K. Tossaporn is the husband of Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr. The successful appeal was made by the Provincial Land Reform Office (PLRO), which argued that K. Tossaporn…
- Phuket News
Policeman dies from beating
PATONG: A police sergeant from Kathu who was beaten into a coma on Sunday by two assailants has died in the Bangkok Phuket Hospital from bleeding in the brain.Pol Lt Col Chawalit Niemwadee, Deputy Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that he had been informed on Tuesday by the hospital that Pol Sgt Pramual Thongaugsorn died from severe…
- Phuket News
Thaksin rejects “pearly’ underpasses
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in Phuket today for just one hour, turned down a proposal to build two underpasses on the bypass road at a cost of 800 million baht.Instead, he said, the provincial authorities should look at the example of Dindaeng in Bangkok, where a single tunnel, long enough to reach from Phuket’s Samkong intersection to the Darasamut…
- Phuket News
Deputy PM defends Phang Nga pipeline
THALANG: In his first press conference today in Phuket, Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Lipatapanlop defended the government’s plan to build an oil pipeline across Phang Nga, saying that it will not affect tourism in the region.Speaking to the press at Phuket International Airport this morning, the former Chart Pattana leader, who joined Thai Rak Thai as Deputy PM two and…
- Thailand News
Cops and fobbers
BANGKOK: A former security guard at the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok was arrested on August 8 for impersonating a police officer and illegal possession of a firearm, police said. Following reports of gunfire at 5 am , two police officers from the Makkasan Police station found Theerapong Sawaiprekon, 30, in a police uniform at the scene. The former security guard…
- Thailand News
Repellent behavior
CHERNG TALAY: A 17-year-old boy high on a cocktail of cola and crushed mosquito-repellent coils attacked a Buddhist nun with a meat cleaver in her quarters in the morning of August 19. The nun received 205 stitches for 16 wounds to her head and upper body and is said to be in a “worrisome” condition at Wachira Phuket Hospital. The…
