Last-ditch attempts to stop bus terminal opening
PHUKET: Former Rassada Mayor Suratin Lianudom, who lives near the as-yet-unopened bus terminal on Thepkrasattri Rd, to the north of Phuket Town, has sworn to keep up his campaign against the terminal, even though the Phuket Highways Department (PHD) is pressing ahead with preparations for its opening.
Wednesday 29 February 2012, 02:01PM
Previously, Mr Suratin and around 400 villagers signed an open letter and presented it to the Darmongtham Center in an attempt to block a plan by the Highways Department to cut though the median strip in the road next to the entrance to the bus station, so that northbound buses would not have to make dangerous U-turns.
This attempt has failed, with the contractor continuing to gouge out a 70-metre gap in the strip.
Confronted by the locals, the contractor told them he had a contract to complete the job before the deadline given by the PHD, and that he had no intention of stopping.
PHD Deputy Chief Sathaporn Sornchana told The Phuket News, “We’re getting ready for the opening of the bus station.”
He could not give a date when that would happen but said that the department needs to finished transforming the median strip and installing traffic lights at the site before the scheduled mobile Cabinet meeting begins in Phuket on March 19.
Mr Surathin told The Phuket News he will send a representative to the Nakhon Sri Thammarat Administrative Court on March 5 with a request that the court rule that the median strip removal is illegal because no public hearing was called before work started on it.
