TAH CHAT CHAI: For most of next year, the northern tip of the island will become a building site as heavy machinery is used to transform scrub forest in the area into a landscaped “Welcome Gate” rest stop and vehicle control point (VCP).

Work on the 46-million-baht project, the brainchild of Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepbutr, officially began on Tuesday.

To mark the occasion, K. Anchalee planted a banana tree – their quick growth is thought in Thailand to bring good luck and swift progress to construction projects.

The OrBorJor expects that work on the project, which is being carried out by e-auction winners DN Construction Company, will be complete by the end of September 2006, K. Anchalee said.

The project is being built on government land under the control of the Treasury Department’s Ratchapassadu State Land Office. No mangrove forestry will be felled for the project, and only a small percentage of the total land area involved will be covered with asphalt and buildings, K. Anchalee said.

When the work is finished, motorists will be greeted by a 25-rai expanse ranging from the in-bound Thao Thepkrasattri-Thao Srisoonthorn Bridge to the outbound Sarasin Bridge.

The facility will have dedicated VCPs for the Tah Chat Chai Police and the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office. Tourist facilities will include an information center, a “One Tambon, One Product” souvenir shop and a cafeteria.

A focal point of the new facility will be a rendering of Phuket’s history portrayed on 29 sculpted stone pillars of various sizes, the largest of which “will be about the size of a lighthouse”, the OrBorJor President told the Gazette.

The number 29 was chosen because Phuket has “2” heroines and the number “9” was chosen because the project is being undertaken during the reign of HM Bhumibol Adulyadej, the ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty, K. Anchalee said.

She added that the project will need to be completed in 2006 in order for it to be dedicated to HM The King during the highly auspicious 60^th year of his reign.

In addition to the initial construction costs involved, the OrBorJor will also spend 10 million baht on installing a closed-circuit television security system for the facility, she said.

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