Phuket Highways Office Chief Samak Luadwonghat told The Phuket News today that the tunnel closure is to allow highways officers to conduct a regular six-month maintenance checkup.
“Officers will work on examining and fixing electricity generators, water pumps and other electricity-related systems inside the underpass,” Mr Samak explained.
“We need to check the system thoroughly and even check every light bulb in the tunnel, so we can change and fix the broken ones,” he said.
“We have specifically avoided the rush hours. To explain why our officers do not conduct the work at night, we need sunlight when we shut down the lights in the tunnel. This helps our officers to do the work more easily,” he added.
“We will try to finish the work before the announced working time each day and before Sept 11,” Mr Samak said.
“However, I do apologise for any inconvenience happening during the closure, we will try to finish the work earlier than the deadline,” he concluded.