Finishing touches added to ‘Prab Road’

The road is hoped to finally open to vehicles this week, Weerawit Kreuasombat, President  of the Patong Entertainment Business Association (PEBA), said yesterday (Nov 27).

Mr Weerawit’s hopeful announcement came in a post shared with Preechawude ‘Prab’ Keesin, head of the Pisona Group of companies in Patong and Founder of the Patong Development Foundation, which is overseeing construction of the private road.

The opening of the road will finally allow four-wheeled vehicles road access from Kathu to Patong.

Currently on the old main road over Patong Hill only motorbikes are allowed westward up the hill, from Kathu to Patong. This restriction is for safety while work continues on reinforcing the embankment at the site of the landslide that damaged the road over the hill.

Motorbikes and “small vehicles”, namely cars, pickup trucks and passenger vans, are allowed down the hill from Patong to Kathu.

The laying of the new concrete road is complete. Guardrails are now being added along the outer edge of the road for safety, Mr Weerawit explained.

The road will also need to have a centre line painted along its three-kilometre length.

“For safety, [people] still can’t use the way.  Be patient a little more. Just a few more days,” Mr Weerawit said.

The new road is an initiative of local business owners in Patong. The road crosses private land donated to allow the road to be built, and is entirely privately funded.

According to the call by Patong Development Foundation for donations to help fund building the road, asking for all people across Phuket to donate just B30 each, the road is estimated to cost some B12.4 million. At last report donations of just over B2mn had been received.

At last report, heavy rains last week had slowed progress on the repairs to the road over Patong Hill. The road was initially hoped to be open to traffic in both directions by mid-December.