Highway Project Engineer Somkiet Yimpong of contractor Italian-Thai Development Co Ltd (Ital-Thai) gave a progress report to The Phuket News on February 26.
“On February 20, we've completed concrete walls for both phases, and have excavated about 2-3 meters as part of Phase 1. Next, we've started constructing the road [leading] inside the tunnel. Having dug out two to three meters, there is no water in the tunnel,” he confirmed.
However, Somkiet expressed some concerns about other potential delays.
“For now, I am concerned that some electric poles [on the construction site] and water pipes of the Waterworks Authority have not been relocated yet. According to the plan, both should be moved by the end of May 2016,” he said.
Somkiet went on to underline some detour delays for motorists travelling northbound on Thepkrasattri Rd, from Phuket Town.
"Motorists must now use a single lane on the right hand side of the tunnel site. When they [are heading north on Thepkrasattri Rd from Phuket Town and] reach the junction itself, they must still turn left onto the bypass road then make a u-turn in front of the Premium Outlet Mall so they can continue their journey north,” he explained.
“Motorists travelling northbound must be very careful as they will be in a single lane heading north against two lanes of oncoming traffic heading south, all on the east side of the tunnel roadworks,” he said.
He explained that rerouting the northbound lane into a single lane was necesarry in order to reinforce a concrete barrier wall, a task which he said should be completed by the end of April, this year.
Nonetheless “Northbound traffic on Thepkrasattri Rd northbound includes two lanes through the tunnel works [including a single lane rerouted to the east for those heading to Thalang/airport, and a single lane running on the west side of the roadworks for those needing to turn off to BIS, the residential area in Koh Kaew's Bang Ku neighborhood], making the left-hand turn onto the bypass road safer. For now, southbound traffic remains unchanged by the new traffic flow," Mr Somkiet stressed.
“I am confident that the Bang Khu Underpass will be finished before the contract deadline, which is on September 14, 2017," he stated, noting that, ”it would be finished 20 per cent faster than plan.