“I have held initial talks with locals leaders in Karon and shown them the construction plan,” Gov Chamroen told The Phuket News.
“They liked it and will discuss the plan with local residents, but the project will still need to pass a public hearing,” he added.
Gov Chamroen noted that Phuket receiving a budget allocation of B40 million for such a project presented an opportunity not to be missed.
“This budget of B40-million for a project is not easy to get. Now we have Cabinet approval, I do not want Phuket to lose it,” he said.
The Nai Harn experience, in which the public hearing saw the project sunk by public vote, presented an opportunity for officials to learn from, added Gov Chamroen. (See story here.)
“The project must be accepted by local residents, it must pass its EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and all other regulations before we can say it has approval,” he explained.
“We have to make sure that the new location of the project will not fail. What happened at Nai Harn could be our case study.”
Santi Pawai, Director of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MoTS) Phuket office, told The Phuket News that Phuket officials have until March 31, 2016 to complete the project – regardless of wherever it will be built on the island.
“We still have time to find the new location for this project,” he said. “The deadline of the project is not by the end of this year as previously mentioned. We have until the end of March,” Mr Santi said.
“I think we can find the best solution by that time,” he added.