Saphan Hin incinerator given top-level support

PHUKET CITY: A Prime Minister’s Office inspector who is in Phuket to review mega-projects for which the governor has requested funding said that top priority should be given to having a second burner installed at the incineration plant at Saphan Hin.

Changthong Opassiriwit arrived in Phuket on Tuesday and spent the day visiting the proposed project sites, including a 150-rai site of Treasury Department land earmarked for an international meetings and exhibition center in Mai Khao.

The next day, K. Changthong met with Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit and other officials to discuss mega-projects and several road-building projects for which the province has requested funding from the Interior Ministry’s Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning.

K. Changthong said the second incinerator was the most pressing because five landfill pits in and around Koh Phee, where the current incinerator is located, are full.

A proposal by Phuket City to spend 52 million baht to expand capacity at the site would be only a short-term solution, allowing the area to amass garbage for two more years at most, he said.

“The island currently generates about 500 tons of garbage daily, which represents a 15% increase over the past two years,” he said.

The single burner at the Saphan Hin plant, which was designed to house two burners, can burn only about 250 tons per day at optimal conditions.

As for the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibition (MICE) center, K. Changthong agreed that the site in Mai Khao was appropriate, but said that more study was needed.

Several road projects were also discussed. One was a proposal by Phuket City to construct a 600-meter elevated roadway over mangrove forest to connect Soi Sakdidet 3 to Saphan Hin, thus reducing commuting time to and from the popular recreational area for people arriving from the west and south.

Other road projects for which central government funding has been sought by the governor include a new road from Sakoo to Koh Kaew and traffic overpasses or underpasses at Darasamuth Intersection near Central Festival Phuket, at Samkong Junction near Tesco-Lotus and at the Bangkhu three-way junction near the Boat Lagoon.

Funding for such infrastructure projects for Phuket was virtually put on hold under the government of former Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.