Work begins on repairing Patong Hill road landslide site

PHUKET: Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luadwonghat kept his promise made yesterday that as soon as the rains stopped today, his workers were out in force making temporary repairs to the Patong Hill road.

The section of road, just west of the Chinese shrine at the top of the hill, first collapsed during heavy rains last October, then again in early May with the advent of this year’s monsoon season.

On Thursday night, the same site suffered another landslide, with the dislodged earth tumbling into a rubber plantation below.

Construction workers at the site today explained to the Phuket Gazette that they will clear away the loose earth at the site then fill the “hole” with wire mesh.

“We will fill the mesh with boulders and other large rocks, and then fill the gaps with earth before paving the road over the top again,” one worker explained.

“The repairs are only temporary until we get the budget to fix it properly,” he added.

The temporary repairs, costing 3 million baht, will take two weeks to complete, said Phuket Highways Office Director Samak.

“But that’s if we don’t have any more heavy rain. If we get more rain like we did this week, it will probably take longer. Once the temporary repairs are complete, the lane can be reopened to traffic,” he added.

Mr Samak said that permanent repairs to the road were likely to start in November or December.

“That project will take at least 90 days to complete,” he added.

The news follows Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha in June requesting an emergency budget of 80 million baht to repair the road as the main thoroughfare joining Patong and Phuket Town was deemed at high risk of collapsing due to the heavy annual monsoon-season rains.

— Atchaa Khamlo