Inmates spruce up Phuket roadsides for ministers’ meeting
PHUKET: The Phuket governor called in Phuket Provincial Prison inmates to help clean up and landscape the Airport Road that delegates to the 42nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will pass on their way to the host venue Laguna Phuket.
The order followed an inspection tour of the road on Friday during which Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop found the median strip and roadsides littered and overgrown with weeds.
Upon learning that the Mai Khao Tambon Administration Organization (TAO) lacked the manpower to spruce up the road in time, Governor Wichai contacted the Department of Corrections to get permission to use prison labor – with crews working around the clock to get the job done.
Since taking office in March this year, Governor Wichai has made improving the appearance of the Airport Road and Thepkrasattri Road a priority.
He ordered red palmyra palms to be planted along the shoulder of the Airport Road, only to find out last Friday that a large number of recently planted trees had been dug up and removed by thieves.
Governor Wichai said the plants might have been removed by youngsters as ‘a prank’.
In addition to clearing the roadsides of debris, the prisoners and Mai Khao TAO workers have been busy planting flowers for the enjoyment of the visiting VIP delegates.
— Tipwarintron Tanaakarachod
