News
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New benchmarks for central funding
PHUKET CITY: Provincial projects must meet meet one of two new criteria if they to receive funding from the central government: profit or “communal benefit”. Speaking at Phuket Provincial Hall this morning, Gov Udomsak Usawarangkura told provincial government department chiefs that only projects that make money or that offer benefits to other provinces will be considered when it comes to…
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City municipal campaigning begins
PHUKET CITY: Garlands of marigolds marked the start of the election campaign for mayor and councillors of Phuket City today as the first two candidates registered and outlined their policies. More candidates are expected to join the race before the April 4 poll. The streets of the newly-declared city are expected to resound with public-announcement trucks and be filled with…
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Two more boat taxes dropped to zero
PHUKET CITY: In the wake of the dropping last week of customs duty on yachts comes more good news for the local yachting industry with the announcement that excise tax has been reduced from 5% to zero. A third impost on yachts, the Ministry of Interior Tax, which is calculated as a percentage of excise tax, also automatically falls to…
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Province requests B2.5bn for expo center
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Province and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) have jointly requested 2.5 billion baht in funding from the central government for construction of the proposed International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) at Saphan Hin – a site still seen by most island residents as inappropriate for such a project. Speaking after a planning seminar at the Royal…
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Langkawi Regatta draws 70 entries
LANGKAWI: The BMW Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2004 (RLIR) will be contested from March 3-6 in waters off the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in Kuah, Langkawi. The organizers say that almost 70 boats from Switzerland, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, the US, Alaska, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vanuatu have registered to take part. The official closing…
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Shopping for a change
PHUKET CITY: A new initiative to help adolescent offenders in Phuket learn legitimate skills and steer them away from a life of crime was launched on Saturday. Youngsters doing time at the Phuket Juvenile Observation and Protection Center (PJOPC) will now have the opportunity to learn handicrafts, batik-making and hairdressing skills and then sell their products or skills at a…
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Crime fighters set up in Phuket
PHUKET: In a bid to tackle serious crime around the country, the Bangkok-based Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has formed local crime-fighting forces for each police region, CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit announced on Sunday. Gen Chatchawal has been appointed chief of the CIB office for Region 8, based in Phuket and covering Ranong, Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket,…
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A flap but no bird ‘flu
PHUKET: The Chief of Phuket Provincial Health Office confirmed today that a hospital patient originally suspected of having bird ‘flu had been allowed to go home after doctors found he was free of the disease. Virat Hongsib-paed, 33, a garbage man employed in Kamala, was admitted to the Mission Hospital Phuket on Friday after feeling ill for several days. Concern…
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Drive against alcohol and tobacco
PHUKET CITY: In a scene reminiscent of the US in the 1920s, some 100 people turned out this morning to burn cartons of cigarettes and smash bottles of alcohol. The “No tobacco, no alcohol for a better life” project was organized by the Kalyanamitra Organization, Phuket, along with Rajabhat University Phuket, where the bottle-smashing was staged. The message of the…
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Probe into Patong municipal poll
PATONG: Thirteen days after Songserm Kepsap and his Patong Progress Party (PPP) swept aside former mayor Pian Keesin and other Raksa Patong Party candidates in the Patong municipal election, the poll results have yet to be certified by the Government – and an investigation is now underway to determine if the poll was tainted by vote-buying. Kittipong Thiengkunagrit, Director of…
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First small step toward Cyber-Paradise
PHUKET CITY: A branch of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) will open on March 1 at Saphan Hin – the first small step toward the island’s much-imagined golden future as an IT hub. Manoo Ordeedolchest, President of SIPA, told the Gazette, “The Board of Investment and the provincial government will be responsible for setting up and running a one-stop…
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Yacht customs duty dropped to zero
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s marine leisure industry broke out the Champagne today as the government finally dropped the customs duty on imported boats to zero, following publication of the change to the tax law in the Royal Gazette yesterday. Theera Paesathitthavorn, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Customs Office Region 5, told the Phuket Gazette today that he anticipates an increase in…
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Phuket Town is now Phuket City
PHUKET TOWN: Unlucky for some, but lucky for sign-makers and big-thinkers: on Friday, February 13, the Interior Ministry officially upgraded Phuket Town Municipality to Phuket City Municipality. The Chief Administrative Officer of the new Phuket City (and formerly Chief Admin Officer of Phuket Town), Veerun Hangsawat, told the Gazette today, “The structure and responsibilities of Phuket Town qualified it for…
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SilkAir to boost Phuket service
PHUKET: The blue skies of Phuket tend to empty of airliners during the “green” season but Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to buck this trend by scheduling more Phuket-Singapore flights every week between April and October. Chan Chee Chong, manager of SilkAir, Thailand, said yesterday that SilkAir – SIA’s regional wing – will add three Phuket-Singapore flights to its schedule each…
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B300m to be spent on Phuket’s roads
PHUKET: Almost 300 million baht is to be spent improving the island’s roads as part of a campaign by the Phuket Provincial Highway Office (PPHO) to reduce road deaths and injuries. One of the biggest projects will be the enlargement of the eight-kilometer bypass road to four lanes, or possibly even six. This will cost 112 million baht and take…
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Chicken fallout
UDON THANI: As 58-year-old village headman Boonchu Srisingha was leaving his home in tambon Chiang Yuen on the morning of 27 January, he noticed a white plastic bag hanging from the fence surrounding his home. Intrigued, he looked closer and spotted a note attached to it that read, “Please give the contents of this bag to Mongkol Singhamaw, aged 28,…
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Instant death
KHON KAEN: There are plenty of coffee lovers in Thailand, but one itinerant sugarcane cutter from Khon Kaen took caffeine craving to new heights. Banjong Singhakul, 45, found that he could bypass the annoying process of mixing the stuff with hot water by simply munching down mouthfuls of instant coffee granules. Unfortunately, too much of anything is never a good…
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The horror of the morning after
PATHUM THANI: Some people may be familiar with the surprise of waking up on the morning of New Year’s Day to find an unexpected creature lying beside them in bed. Few, however, take the trouble to report such incidents to the police. Fewer still are the cases where police haul the offending bedmate off to jail. Pol Lt Col Sarawut…
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Protesters seek to stop early closing
PHUKET TOWN: About 1,000 workers and business owners from the entertainment industry gathered outside the Phuket Provincial Meeting Hall this afternoon to stage a peaceful protest against tighter restrictions on opening hours. The protesters caried banners and placards criticizing the 1 am closing time that is scheduled to be imposed on the island from March 1 as part of the…
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Chicken back on the menu
PHUKET: Phuket is starting to recover its appetite for chicken but the importation of live birds to the island is still banned, Sunart Wongchawalit, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office, said today. Only four companies out of 140 that had been checked were currently being allowed to bring processed chickens onto the island. Since the avian ‘flu outbreak hit…
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Phuket wins road safety award
PHUKET: Phuket has received an award for being the third most successful province in Thailand in terms of reducing road accident figures over the New Year holiday period, the Governor’s office disclosed today. Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng, who is also Director of the National Road Safety Center, made a presentation to Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura, Provincial Police Commander Maj…
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New TAT boss outlines strategy
PHUKET TOWN: The uniqueness of Phuket’s culture and events such as the Vegetarian Festival will prove to be new attractions for tourists, according to the new Director of the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suwalai Pinpradab. “We will campaign for residents and tourists alike to wear white clothes during the festival to make it unique and…
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Singapore property show wins go-ahead
SINGAPORE: The first Singapore Phuket and Samui Property exhibition will be held at the Raffles City Convention Centre in the Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore, from March 5 to 7. Exhibition Director Graham Doven said, “We have been under constant pressure from many major developers in Phuket and Samui to get to Singapore, which has shown strong growth [in sales] over…
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OrBorJor poll: the weirdness grows
PHUKET TOWN: The final day of registration for the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) elections today had more twists and turns than an Olympic slalom course. Sudden career changes and dark allegations of death threats were the order of the day as Samroeng Chaisorn, anointed as the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party’s candidate just over three weeks ago, announced he…
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Chalong resumes “waters’ fee
CHALONG: After a hiatus of a year, the Chalong Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) recently resumed collecting fees from yacht skippers at the One-Stop Service office, sparking concern among yachties that the notorious Phuket Waters Fee had been reintroduced. But the Chief Administrator of Orbortor Chalong, Paritta Thitkonglad, explained today that the fee, collection of which resumed at the beginning of…
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Students try electronic voting
PHUKET TOWN: Electronic voting made its debut in Phuket yesterday with a machine being used to register votes in student elections at the Rajabhat University Phuket. After manually registering their attendance, students entered polling booths and pressed buttons on keypads to cast their votes: 1 for Theerayuth Yodkaew, 2 for Chaiwat Tongkerd, or 3 for “neither candidate”. Prapa Kayee, President…
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Anger greets 1 am closing time
PATONG: From March 1, bars and entertainment venues on Phuket will have to close at 1 am, an hour earlier than they do at present. The early closing edict was decided at a meeting of the Cabinet in Bangkok yesterday. The decision effectively designates the entire island as one large entertainment zone, leaving people in the after-dark industry exasperated and…
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Mail thief caught – but only on video
PATONG: A manager at the Patong Post Office was caught recently stealing items from mail after five hidden cameras were installed in the building. However, after being carpeted by his boss, the manager was allowed to walk out of the Post Office and has not been seen since. Police are looking for him, but admit they have no idea where…
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Anchalee draws No. 1 ballot spot
PHUKET TOWN: Two of the three declared candidates for the key post of President in next month’s Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) elections registered today, along with many candidates for OrBorJor seats. Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who resigned recently as a party-list (non-elected) Democrat MP, won a lucky draw for the No. 1 spot on the ballot, provided her paperwork proves to…
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Newcomers in upset victory in Patong poll
PATONG: The Patong Progress Party (PPP) led by Songserm Kepsap won the Patong Municipal election yesterday, beating the Rak Patong Party (RPT) of Pian Keesin by 322 votes. A total of 9,213 people were eligible to vote but in the event only 6,239, or 68% , turned out. K. Songserm polled 2,949 votes against K. Pian’s 2,627, with 519 spoiled…
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