Phuket City to get new beach

PHUKET CITY: In an effort to spruce up the city’s premier recreation area, Phuket City Municipality will spend a total of 39 million baht on drainage, repairs and other improvements at Saphan Hin.

Once the project is complete, Saphan Hin will have a 500-meter-long beach, created from recovered sand, near the remaining mangrove stands on the north coast of the peninsula.
Funding for the work, to be carried out by the Municipality, will be from both provincial and national government coffers.

Deputy Mayor Kawee Tansukatanon told the Gazette that 5 million baht from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) Post-Tsunami Redevelopment Fund would be used to repair concourses and walkways damaged by the tsunami. Some 80% of the work will involve simply resetting the red paving stones that were washed up, with the city buying more bricks in a different color to complete the project.

Also included in the 5-million-baht budget is the planting of 115 “golden shower” trees (Cassia fistula) in the area. The work will be completed before the end of August, he said.
Another 19 million baht from the MoI will be spent on clearing pipes and dredging drainage ditches that became clogged with sand during the tsunami. Sand that is recovered will be used to create the new beach between the mangrove trees and current seafront. This work will be completed by the end of October, he said.

To the south, the municipality will spend 15 million baht landscaping a section of Rattanakosin 200 Pi Rd from its start at Ko Jan Bridge all the way to the solid-waste incinerator.

The project will include road resurfacing, building salas, sidewalks and parking areas, and even decorating power poles to resemble the Ko Chan (Chinese-style longtail boats) that traditionally plied the section of Klong Bang Yai running alongside the road.

When completed, the area will serve as a new, beautifully-landscaped area for the people of Phuket to enjoy, he said.

Funding for this will come from the Governor’s budget, in accordance with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s “Beautiful Road Project”, K. Kawee explained.