Chalong plaza plan cancelled

PHUKET: A 150-million-baht project to develop 40 rai in Chalong into a 700-shop complex has been abandoned. Five thousand customers a day and 120 million baht in annual profits were anticipated for the Phuket Legend Plaza Center but the developer, Eat & Art Management, shelved plans before any work started. All shop reservation fees for the project – which was due to open before 2004 – have been returned to depositors, Eat & Art says. The two-story building would also have housed a 2,000-seater concert venue and a museum detailing Phuket’s history. (See also https://thethaiger.com/news/index.asp?Id=2737 ) “We first started experiencing budget difficulties over the Sars crisis,” Sakuna Khamkaew, Vice-President of Eat & Art Management, admited to the Gazette today. “The land title investigation and uncertainties over how far it would spread also made us reconsider,” K. Sakuna continued. Eat & Art Management specializes in food and entertainment venues and K. Sakuna said that it will refocus on this market. She speculated that the company may return to Phuket “in the future”.