Makeover for Immigration office

PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Immigration Office (PIO) is to be redecorated as a prelude to a proposed full-scale redevelopment that could add an IT crime center and make Phuket an Immigration center for other southern provinces. The new Superintendent of the PIO, Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop, told the Gazette that the new look for the Immigration ofice should be complete within two months. The redecoration will make Immigration procedures more open, and provide extra counter space and a notice board to help visitors determine their needs, he said. “The new look of the office should be similar to Phuket City Police Station,” he added, referring to an upgrade of the police station that made computerized information available to visitors and replaced scruffy wooden benches with comfortable sofas. Col Witawat added that a proposal being considered for the next fiscal year – beginning November 1 – includes a new three-story Sino-Portuguese-style building for Immigration. The 16-million-baht plan includes meeting facilities for officers from all over southern Thailand. Funding is being sought from the Royal Thai Police, he said. Funding will also be sought from the Provincial Administration Organization for an IT crime center, at a cost of 1.6 million baht, he said.