ICEC site decision deferred

PHUKET: Originally scheduled to be held today, the provincial committee meeting set to make a final decision on the site for Phuket’s long-awaited International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) has been postponed until further notice.

The reason for the postponement is that Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit, who chairs the committee, was called to an urgent meeting today at Government House in Bangkok.

Called by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, today’s meeting with the governors of the six Andaman Coast provinces was to discuss the readiness of the tsunami-warning system after last week’s tsunami scare.

The meeting scheduled for today was to announce whether the ICEC will be built at Anuphas and Son’s land off Chao Fa West Rd, where Chao Fa City is to be built, or on government land in Tah Chat Chai. (Click here for more details about the two proposed sites.)

The committee is to submit its recommendation to Tourism and Sports Minister Suwit Yodmanee and then to Cabinet for further approval before the project can proceed.

The project, talked about for well over a decade, received a boost when K. Suwit said the project could move forward with private sector investment and ING Funds (Thailand) expressed interest in developing the project under a build-operate-transfer agreement.