Search Results for: lion
- Phuket News
Kathu roadworks to cause tailbacks
KATHU: Motorists traveling between Kathu and Phuket City can expect traffic delays over the next year, as the narrow, hilly stretch of Wichit Songkhram Rd west of Makro is now being widened into a four-lane divided highway with sidewalks on both sides.The work is underway by project contractor Noppawong Kosarng Company, which was awarded the contract after making a 45.9-million-baht…
- Phuket News
Fire engulfs stalls along Patong beachfront
PATONG: A fire broke out on Thaweewong Rd about 4 am yesterday, destroying eight vendors’ stalls and causing an estimated 10 million baht in damages.Firefighters took two hours to extinguish the blaze.The fire broke out in a row of shops near the Holiday Inn Resort. After being notified of the blaze by Kathu Police, 10 trucks from Patong Municipality Fire…
- Phuket News
Tsunami early-warning buoys to deploy from Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Thailand’s tsunami early-warning system will take a big step forward this month, when a high-tech monitoring buoy able to directly detect tsunami waves will be deployed about 1,100 kilometers off the Andaman Coast, near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The announcement came during a meeting on disaster preparedness in the six tsunami-affected provinces held at the Royal Phuket City…
- Phuket News
“Peanut gambling’ gang caught
KAMALA: Four men, including a retired police officer, have been arrested for their participation in a “peanut gambling” swindle after a woman, whose name is being withheld at her request, was conned out of 1 million baht before reporting the racket to the police.The woman reported the con to police on November 8 and cooperated in a sting operation, luring…
- Phuket News
B1m fugitive arrested in Phitsanuloke
PHITSANULOKE (The Nation): Fugitive murder suspect Thai-American national Saner Wonggoun was arrested yesterday at a market in Phitsanuloke province.The former US Air Force non-commissioned officer pleaded guilty to a murder charge filed by local police in California for the murder of his pregnant wife Sopha in 1994, police said.The arrest came just seven days after Thai and US authorities announced…
- Phuket News
New Governor warns of ‘problems’
PHUKET: Bangkok native Niran Kalayanamit was promoted to Governor of Phuket yesterday following the weekly Cabinet meeting in Bangkok.Cabinet approved the promotion as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle of 60 Ministry of Interior officials.Governor Niran, 52, has been Phuket Vice-Governor for the past five years, moving to the province after tenure as Director of the Foreign Affairs Division of the…
- Phuket News
Valentino and wife released on bail
BANGKOK (The Nation): Well-known Phuket resident Tan Teik Hai, aka “Valentino”, and his wife Suwaphat Kheereephon were released on bail of 600,000 each on October 29 following their arrest on charges of encroaching on a vast plot of beachfront land on Koh Yao Yai in Phang Nga.Tan, a Malaysian national who serves as the honorary consul to Morocco, and his wife,…
- Phuket News
B1m reward for US-Thai fugitive
BANGKOK: Thai and US law enforcement officials today announced a 1-million-baht reward for information leading to the capture of Saner Wonggoun, a most-wanted US fugitive believed to be hiding in Thailand. Saner, alias “Shorty” or “Buck”, is wanted in connection with the 1994 murder of his pregnant wife and their eight-month-old unborn child. Saner, born in Nakon Nayok Province in…
- Phuket News
Another man gunned down
RASSADA: A Kathu man was gunned down while riding his motorcycle near Phuket Rajabhat University around 1:30 am on Wednesday.The man, identified by police as Panumas Chusawas, 23, was killed by at least four .38mm bullets while riding, with a friend riding pillion, along the Ban Kuku-Samkong road.The friend was unharmed and notified police. He declined to reveal his name…
- Phuket News
All green for Vegetable Frenzy
PHUKET CITY: Organizers of the annual Vegetarian Festival have announced that all systems are go for the start of this year’s event tomorrow night. Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr said that in celebration of this year’s festival, falling during the 60th anniversary of HM The King’s accession to the throne, the OrBorJor will put on a range…
- Phuket News
Beach Volleyball: Brazilians top seeds at Phuket Open
PHUKET: The World No 1 pairing of Larissa and Juliana from Brazil have been named as No 1 seeds at the Phuket Thailand Open, the final round of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volley World Tour 06. Seeded No 2 are current Olympic and World Champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh from the USA. Two more Brazilian teams – Ana Paula…
- Phuket News
Patong wastewater plant now open
PATONG: The drive to keep Patong Bay free of seaweed in the upcoming high season took a big step forward with the opening of a new wastewater treatment plant on October 12.The center, built by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Wastewater Management Authority (WMA), with 13 million baht from the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) fund, uses a…
- Phuket News
Call for donations for flood victims
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention Mitigation (ODPM) is calling for donations to help people who have been affected by the floods in northern and central Thailand.ODPM Chief Aroon Kerdsom yesterday said that 19 provinces have experienced flooding so far this season, with Ang Thong, Sing Buri, Chai Nat and Chanthaburi the hardest hit.In response, foundations, businesses and…
- Phuket News
Carrefour to open at Jungceylon
PATONG: French hypermarket chain Carrefour will open its first branch in Phuket as part of the December 1 soft opening of Jungceylon, putting to rest the speculation that the now-deposed Thaksin government’s efforts to rein in the expansion of large retailers would effect the project.The opening was confirmed during an October 6 press conference at Jungceylon by Prawit Janyasittikul, Deputy…
- Phuket News
Phuket Immigration moves to temporary offices
PHUKET CITY: From Monday, the Phuket Provincial Immigration Office (PPIO) will take up temporary residence in the old wooden Marine Police building across the road from its traditional site on Phuket Rd.PPIO Inspector Pol Lt Col Pipat Pongpan told the Gazette that the move is to allow the old PPIO main building, which was built 23 years ago, to be…
- Phuket News
Saudi Prince inks B4.3bn resort deal
PHANG NGA: Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI), which is chaired by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, has signed a deal to acquire land on which it proposes to build a US$115 million (about 4.3 billion baht) “Raffles Phang Nga Resort and Residences”, comprising 150 rooms and 25 luxury villas.The deal was made through a joint-venture company…
- Phuket News
Phuket tax revenues continue to soar
PHUKET CITY: Taxes collected for fiscal year 2006 are predicted to total 5.2 billion baht, a 30% increase from last year, the Phuket Area Revenue Office (PARO) reported yesterday at Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s monthly meeting with Provincial Office Chiefs.PARO Chief Pensri Passakul said that the taxes collected from October 2005 to the end of August 2006 totaled 4.8 billion baht,…
- Phuket News
New visa rules confirmed
PHUKET: New rules limiting stays in Thailand on “visas on arrival” to 90 days over any six month period were confirmed at a September 15 meeting of Immigration Department Chiefs in Bangkok. The new policy will go into effect on October 1.In a related development, the Royal Thai Consulate in Penang, Malaysia, has stopped issuing double-entry tourist visas. Pol Lt…
- Phuket News
Thaksin eyes London move
BANGKOK (Nation): Sources claim that Thaksin Shinawatra may fly from New York Thaksin to join his family in London, where he owns a luxury real estate.As last evening’s coup took shape Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, the wife of the caretaker prime minister, escaped to Singapore.It was reported that the former Cabinet members of the Thaksin government may try to form a…
- Phuket News
Poor people get solar power
PHUKET CITY: Solar power generation systems have been installed in the homes of 351 poor families in Phuket as part of a nationwide project to bring power to areas not yet connected to the main grid.Announcing this at a meeting at the Thavorn Grand Plaza hotel on September 4, Prawat Siripatrodom of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEC), said that a…
- Phuket News
Tax revenue up more than a quarter
PHUKET: The Phuket Area Revenue Office (PARO) expects to have raised 5 billion baht in taxes by the end of this fiscal year on September 31, an increase of a billion baht from last year. PARO Chief Pensri Passakul said at Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s monthly meeting with Provincial Office Chiefs on August 30, that between October 1 last year and…
- Phuket News
Eerie hush over stolen tsunami money
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has warned that government officers must shoulder the burden of responsibility of their positions and accept the “sharp thorns” of a government career.He was referring to the lingering police investigation into whether Apichart Nooprod was involved in the theft of 2.05 million baht in tsunami funds on February 15 last year.K. Apichart, Chief of…
- Phuket News
Confusion over Chinese role in mega project
PHUKET CITY: Some two weeks after it was reported that Thai Longstay Management Corp Ltd (TLM), a private company 30% owned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), signed a 40-million-baht “primary contract” with a Chinese state-owned enterprise to help develop part of a long-stay project at Saphan Hin, Phuket Vice-Governor Niran Kanlayanamitr, head of the provincial committee for the…
- Phuket News
Modern slaughterhouse on the way
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Municipality has announced plans to build a new high-standard slaughterhouse to replace the current one near Ruam Phun Pol Bridge.Chaiyapreuk Phanpreuk, Deputy Mayor of Phuket City Municipality, said that the move is necessary because the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), which owns the land where the current slaughterhouse is, informed him that the contract for the use…
- Phuket News
OrBorJor signs up 7th school
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) has added a seventh school to its portfolio in its drive to promote educational excellence in Phuket.At a ceremony at The Metropole hotel on August 23, OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Baan Nabon School, whereby the OrBorJor will help the school to build on its record…
- Phuket News
Underwater park ready for divers
PHUKET: Sculptures worth 4 million baht have been placed on the seabed at a depth of 15 meters close to Koh Racha Yai, and are being promoted as a special “must see” site for divers in the coming high season.Phuket Diving Park, as the site is now known, features sculptures including Thai demons (yak), traditional decorative arches, a sala, two…
- Phuket News
Desal plant “ready by high season’
KARON: Construction of a 528-million-baht desalination plant is now 90% complete and the plant should be ready to begin providing 12,000 cubic meters of tap water daily to Patong and Kata-Karon in the upcoming high season – if all the necessary permits can be obtained in time.At the Kata Beach Resort on Friday, Phuket Vice-Governor Niran Kanlayanamit chaired a meeting…
- Phuket News
Phuket chosen as venue for TV adventure show
PHUKET: The first Isuzu Adventure Race Thailand Championship, involving climbing and kayaking among other events, will be staged in Phuket from October 27 to 29. The competition will be filmed and broadcast by satellite to viewers worldwide, say the organizers. Teams of four people, each including at least one woman, will have to prove their physical and mental toughness over…
- Thailand News
Progress for pilgrims
CHIANG MAI: Chiang Mai’s famous Phrasingha Temple has unveiled its new 1.6- million-baht public bathroom, which the temple clergy hope will claim this year’s coveted “Toilet of the Year” award. Monks at the temple, which receives hundreds of Thai and foreign tourists a day and as many as 3,000 on Buddhist holidays, saw the need for improvements to its restroom…
- Phuket News
Security cameras deal signed
PHUKET: The provincial authorities are to install Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) monitoring systems in parts of Patong, Karon and Phuket City in an effort to boost security in popular tourist areas.At Phuket Provincial Police headquarters yesterday, Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Phuket Provincial Police and CAT Telecom, which will install…
