The issue of coastal erosion was discussed at a meeting at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) office in Phuket Town yesterday (Aug 3), chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan.
Present were officers from Sirinath National Park and the MNRE Region 10 office, along with local officials from Mai Khao Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor), the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO) and Thalang District Office.
Vice Governor Amnuay highlighted the importance of the issue, noting that he had been ordered by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew to look into measures to prevent coastal erosion.
Of particular concern was the extent of heavy erosion at Sai Kaew Beach last month when storm conditions coinciding with a king tide resulted in the outbound road from Phuket along Thepkrasattri Rd (Route 402) being flooded.
“This affected traffic and posed a risk to the coastal and traffic surfaces in the area,” he said.
In total, 8.26km of shoreline around Phuket was affected by coastal erosion in 2020, the meeting was told.
Only 160 metres had suffered severe erosion that year, but 5.79km of shoreline had suffered “moderate erosion” and a further 2.30km of shoreline had suffered “minor erosion”.
Local government organisations are to survey their areas and report the situation of coastal erosion to the Phuket office of the Office of Natural Resources and Environment in order to bring the MNRE information up to date, Vice Governor Amnuay said.
The Phuket Highways Office is to inspect road conditions, road surfaces and the areas immediately surrounding major roads, he added.
“The information will be used to review current plans and projects related to the prevention and solution of coastal erosion in Phuket in order to find a solution to solve the problem in the long term,” Vice Governor Amnuay said.