The tourist attraction, currently nicknamed the “Hollywood Museum”, is to commemorate major feature films shot on location on and around Phuket with large stage props replicating famous scenes from the internationally known movies.
The project, approved by Rawai Municipality, has been allocated a budget of B40 million.
Work at the site began a few days ago, with trees on the beachfront slated to be cut down marked with red rope, but an outpouring of complaints has forced the project to stop, Mr Santi told The Phuket News today.
“Maybe some people misunderstand the construction planned for this project,” Mr Santi said. “It will not be a building or a permanent structure. It will just be stage props that reproduce scenes from major, well-known movies.
“The contract for construction actually started in October, but now construction has been delayed until
until all details are explained again to the people as soon as possible. Then, the project will be continued. Hopefully, it will be finished within six months,” Mr Santi said.
However, Mr Santi did not elaborate on when the public were notified of the project through a public hearing, which is usually required by law in order for government projects to be built on public land.
Mr Santi did confirm that saffron robes had been wrapped around several trees at the site.
“But that was done by people in the area. It has nothing to do with monks from nearby temple (Wat Nai Harn),” he said.
Mr Santi added that officials had revised the plan several times to minimise the number of trees that would have to be cut down.
“The original plan would have seen many more tress cut down,” he said. “ But the latest version of the plan requires only 27 trees to be felled.”
“Also, the project will not encroach onto the area reserved for the restaurants next to the beach,” he added, though he did not allude to what the view might be from the restaurants after the project is complete.