Site chosen for new Phuket Provincial Hall

PHUKET: The new provincial hall under planning will be built on a 15-rai vacant plot of government land in Phuket Town.

The site chosen is next to the Regional Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center on Damrong Road.

The announcement was made on Wednesday at a meeting convened especially to discuss the project.

“There are many government offices here at the current Provincial Hall building. It is overcrowded. So we need to have a new Provincial Hall,” said Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak.

Mr Prajiad Aksornthammakul, head of the Phuket Development Planning Group, explained, “The [current] building was examined by the Phuket Public Works Office. We were told that this building is not suitable and too old to be used anymore.

“It is 102 years old and has decayed over time,” Mr Prajiad said.

Before the committee could make headway into the project, said V/Gov Somkiet, they would need to know how many government departments will be sharing their offices at the new hall.

“We also need to know how large their offices will be. We have sent a survey to government departments asking whether they want to move their offices into rhe new Provincial Hall building or not.

“We will have their replies sometime in January,” he said.

“The Public Works Office will be responsible for designing the new building, which will be Sino-Portuguese style – just like the current one,” V/Gov Somkiet added.

However, the project still needs budget approval.

“Once we finish planning and designing this project, we will keep it and wait,” V/Gov Somkiet said. “It will be one of the first projects we propose when it is time to request budget.”

“However,” he added, “we still need help from powerful authorities such as Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, and MP Rewat Areerob to push and turn this project into reality.”

— Janpen Upatising