Phuket Governor eyes interest in beach town beautification project

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday confirmed that he would follow up on proposals made by an international consortium of urban architects on how to improve the aesthetics of the tourist-popular Kata-Karon beachfront areas.

The news came at a meeting of urban planning academics from Technische Universitat (TU) Kaiserslautern in Germany, headed by Professor Dr Wolfgang Bohm.

His research team has been working in conjunction with a team from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Thammasat University in Bangkok on the project titled “The Kata-Karon Project: A model towards future development in Phuket”.

The combined teams identified the seven public areas or “issues of concern” that need attention:

1. Kata View Point

2. Karon Circle and Kata-Karon “city gates”

3. Karon Park

4. Improvement of streets and sidewalks, including road surface, footpath, parking, landscaping, bus stops and rubbish collection

5. Bus station at Kata-Karon Municipality Offices

6. Beach lifeguards

7. Tourist information center

Gov Tri said, “I will look into the development proposals of each project with the committee and we will consider them in the future.”

Dr Yongtanit Pimonsathean, of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Thammasat University, added, “Besides the cooperation of the two universities, the project is honored to have a renowned architect Metha Bunnag, the 2012 National Artist, as one of the project’s advisers.”

— Orawin Narabal