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- Phuket News
Princess delivers inspiration
PATONG: HRH Princess Ubol Ratana Rajakanya visited Loma Park in Patong on yesterday to offer gifts and moral support to young survivors of the December 26 tsunami disaster. The Princess, dressed in black, arrived at the beach-side park at 5 pm, accompanied by Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan. There to greet them was Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura, Patong Mayor Pian Keesin…
- Phuket News
Businesses brace for impact of diesel hike
PHUKET: Businesspeople foresee price rises across the board due to the recent 4% rise in the price of diesel fuel, though they believe it will take some time before the impact is felt in the retail sector.The 60-satang-per-liter price hike, announced last Tuesday, reflects the Energy Ministry’s inability to continue subsidizing diesel at a rate of 3 baht per liter.…
- Phuket News
OrBorJor spends B8m on tsunami victims
PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) spent 8.7 million baht between January 15 and February 21 on helping Phuket’s tsunami victims, OrBorJor president Anchalee Vanich Thepabutr disclosed.K. Anchalee said the OrBorJor had funded 89 cremations at 3,000 baht each, and given 5,000 baht apiece to 36 children who had lost parents.A total of 3,268,590 baht has been used to make…
- Phuket News
Sponsors sought for NZ triathlon bid
PHUKET: Island resident Les Bird, a former police commander in Hong Kong, will take part in the gruelling New Zealand Ironman Triathlon and is seeking sponsors to help raise money for Laguna Phuket’s Tsunami Recovery Fund. The race takes place March 5 and comprises a 3.8-km swim, 180-km cycle race and full-length marathon. Mr Bird hopes to complete the course…
- Phuket News
B2m in tsunami aid “disappears’
PHUKET: More than two million baht intended for tsunami victims has gone missing from a safe in Provincial Hall.The theft was reported to police yesterday by Metha Mekarat, Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM).Altogether, 2,050,000 baht is missing from the safe, which is in a strongroom at Provincial Hall.K. Metha said that since the tsunami, the…
- Phuket News
B2bn tsunami memorial proposed
PHUKET CITY: Plodprasop Suraswadi, Adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, today announced that a proposal to build a memorial to remember the victims of the December 26 tsunami with a budget of up to 2 billion baht will be submitted to Cabinet for approval next Tuesday.At a high-level meeting of officials from Phuket and Phang Nga at the Phuket…
- Phuket News
Sea gypsies protest at “lack of government help’
PHUKET: More than 50 sea gypsies from Rawai rallied outside the offices of Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura this morning to protest at what they say is a lack of help from the government since the tsunami.The government has said it would make one-off payments of 2,000 baht to anyone who lost his or her job because of the tsunami. But…
- Phuket News
Monitoring of foreigners gets a boost
SAPHAN HIN: Phuket Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr today handed over the new 1.5-million-baht Center of International Crime Information and Immigration Service to the Phuket Immigration Office.Phuket Immigration Superintendent Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop said the building will be used by officers who will monitor the movements of foreigners in Phuket.He said more and more foreigners are coming to Phuket,…
- Phuket News
Top Unicef official checks on progress
PHUKET: The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), Carol Bellamy, has been to Phuket and Phang Nga to see what is being done to help children recover from the tsunami.Unicef officers were sent to Phang Nga and Phuket within a week of the tsunami, said Ms Bellamy, and since then, Unicef has supported Thai government efforts to…
- Phuket News
Linkin Park star visits Bang Tao
PHUKET: Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Californian band Linkin Park, visited Bang Tao beach today to see for himself the damage caused by the tsunami.Bennington was in Phuket to record material to be broadcast by MTV in the USA, as part of a global campaign to raise money for tsunami victims.After lunch at the Banyan Tree, Bennington and his…
- Phuket News
Phummisak challenges Gov over water supplies
PHUKET: Former Phuket City Mayor and tin mine owner Phummisak Hongsyok has dismissed Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura’s assertion that he will use the law to force owners of private water resources to share them with the province if there is a water shortage this year.K. Phummisak, who owns two flooded former tin mines with a total capacity of three million cubic…
- Phuket News
F1 powerboat race postponed to March 2006
PHUKET: The Formula One powerboat race scheduled to take place next month in Ao Makham has been postponed for a year.Kata Group Chairman Pamuke Archariyachai told the Gazette today that a combination of the tsunami and the Cabinet’s slowness in approving funds to support the event had forced the decision to postpone until March 2006.“We had only a short time…
- Phuket News
Island has water to last until May
PHUKET CITY: The Bang Wad reservoir will be able to supply Phuket with enough water until May, because the drop in the number of tourists caused by the tsunami has reduced water consumption, a post-tsunami review meeting has been told.Irrigation Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri told the Phuket Provincial Hall meeting, “At the moment we have 5.9 million cubic meters of…
- Phuket News
German town donates B1m to Kalim School
PATONG: The citizens of the small German town of Bad Rappenau – population 20,500 – have donated 1 million baht to help rebuild Baan Kalim School, which was badly damaged by the December 26 tsunami.On January 28, Heiko Schmidt, owner of Baan Suan Villa in Patong, who is originally from Bad Rappenau, handed over a check in that amount to…
- Phuket News
We’re doing our best to help – Thaksin
PHUKET CITY: PM Thaksin arrived in Phuket yesterday morning to hear complaints by Phuket residents about the government’s handling of the tsunami disaster.The meeting, held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, was attended by some 500 people, including Cabinet ministers and scores of other government officials. The Cabinet ministers reported on the progress of the various relief programs assigned to…
- Phuket News
Phuket to host tsunami warning meeting
PHUKET: Representatives from more than 40 countries are expected to take part in the Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation on Tsunami Early Warning Arrangements to be held at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa on Friday and Saturday.Organizations expected to take part include the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, the United Nations Special Coordinator for Tsunami Relief, the Economic and…
- Phuket News
B200m center to honor King’s grandson
PHUKET CITY: A 200-million-baht rehabilitation center for autistic children will be built at Wachira Phuket Hospital as a memorial to tsunami victim Bhumi Jensen, the 21-year-old grandson of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej who was killed by the tsunami.Dr Jessada Chungpaibultatana, Director of the Wachira Phuket Hospital, told the Gazette that the budget to build the five-story building will be provided…
- Phuket News
Tsunami-struck firms “need more help’
PATONG: The President of the Phuket Tourist Association has called on the government to do more to help the tourism industry recover from the tsunami.Pattanapong Aikwanich told a seminar yesterday at Club Andaman Beach Resort, Patong, called to discuss restoring Phuket’s spa businesses, “We are about 90% ready to do business now, but occupancy is currently only about 10%. We’re…
- Phuket News
FantaSea to close again until February
KAMALA: Phuket FantaSea opened its doors today for a special booking, but will close again from tomorrow until February 1, and possibly beyond that.The prominent tourist attraction closed on January 8, after the number of bookings plummeted following the tsunami.At that time, Managing Director Pin Kewkacha said that FantaSea had sustained damage totaling 60 to 70 million baht, and that,…
- Phuket News
Central bank ready to launch soft loans
PHUKET: The Bank of Thailand (BoT) – the country’s central bank – decided yeterday to establish a system allowing tsunami-affected businesses to get soft loans at interest rates of no more than 2% a year. These loans would be channeled through the country’s commercial banks, which would repay the BoT at a rate of just 0.01% a year, Prasuksup Puangsokorn,…
- Phuket News
Rugby 10s to raise funds for tsunami orphans
PHUKET: The 7th AirAsia International Phuket Rugby 10s will be held at the Karon Municipal Stadium on May 28 and 29, with the profits going to an scholarship fund for orphans. Patrick Cotter, Chairman of the Phuket Vagabonds RFC, said, “We plan to set up a scholarship fund for children orphaned [by the tsunami] to ensure that they can at…
- Phuket News
Residents ‘will resist’ Kamala plan
PHUKET: A 331 million-baht plan for the post-tsunami rebuilding of Kamala has set local residents against Phuket governor Udomsak Usawarangkura.Under the plan – drawn up after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for damaged areas to be reconstructed in a way that would make them “beautiful and safe” – residents would be prohibited from returning to homes near the beach, and…
- Phuket News
Industry Minister pledges B2bn in SME support
PATONG: Industry Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisan announced yesterday that the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) has earmarked 2 billion baht from its Venture Capital Fund to buy between 10% and 49% interest in tsunami-affected SMEs in order to provide much-needed cash flow. There will be no interest levied on the capital injection nor will the OSMEP claim any…
- Phuket News
TAT submits B550m plan for Patong Beach
PHUKET CITY: Architects commissioned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) yesterday presented a plan to rebuild Patong Beach, at a cost of 550 million baht, to make the popular tourist attraction safe from any future tsunami while at the same time preserving its beauty.TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Santichai Euajongprasit presented the plan, with architects from SPA Architect Co…
- Phuket News
OrBorJor warning system in the works
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is planning to establish and operate its own 8.8-million-baht emergency radio network and warning system in order to help prevent a repeat of the December 26 disaster.The idea is the brainchild of OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who said her own efforts to coordinate an emergency response to the tsunami failed when mobile telephone…
- Phuket News
Rooms tax break for island hotels
PHUKET CITY: In order to help soften the blow to Phuket’s tourism industry caused the tsunami, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is exempting all hotels from the controversial 1% rooms tax for the first nine months of 2005.Explaining why the exemption was being applied to all hotels, and not just those with structural damage, OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr said,…
- Phuket News
Call for govt to sponsor F1 powerboat race
PHUKET: Phuket Chamber of Commerce Chairman Pamuke Archariyachai has called for the government to commit 50 million baht in sponsorship for the F1 powerboat race in Phuket, as a way to attract tourists back to the island.K. Pamuke called for the support at a meeting, at Phuket Royal City Hotel, held to discuss ways to revive the tourism industry in…
- Phuket News
Fixing Kamala water “will take 2 months’
KAMALA: Local authority staff are distributing water to residents of Kamala whose supplies have been rendered undrinkable after being contaminated during the tsunami.Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) Chairman Jaran Sararak told the Gazette that the OrBorTor had arranged for water to be delivered to villagers in Moo 3, where the existing water supply had been disrupted.He said he hoped that…
- Phuket News
Help pours in for damaged schools
KAMALA: Financial assistance has been pouring in from Thailand and around the world to help rebuild Phuket schools damaged by the December 26 tsunami. The Education Ministry has already issued 800,000 baht in emergency funding to rebuild four schools damaged by the December 26 tsunami, said Damrong Boonchoti, Director of the Phuket Educational Area Office. Most of the funding will…
- Phuket News
Labor Minister hands out B26m in aid
PHUKET: Labor Minister Uraiwan Thienthong visited six Phuket hospitals yesterday, distributing more than 26 million baht to help the facilities cope with the financial burden of treating victims of the December 26 tsunami. Together with Labor Ministry Civil Service Inspector Nakorn Silpa-archa and Phuket Vice Governor Winai Buapradit, K. Uraiwan handed over checks in the following amounts:Government hospitals: Wachira Phuket…
