Black wastewater has already been confirmed flowing out of a pipe emptying onto Surin Beach. The return of the unsightly effluent marks a return to pre-COVID days, nearly as testament to the reports of the number of visitors on the island. However, the black wastewater – never recognised by officials as a health risk – also plainly evidences the inability of our infrastructure to cope with the rising number of tourists we already have.
With 300,000 Chinese visitors expected to visit Thailand in the first three months of this year – and many of those coming to Phuket, with direct flights from China to Phuket starting this Wednesday (Jan 18) – the load on the existing infrastructure will only increase.
Add to that Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announcing last week that Thailand expects to welcome between 7-10 million Chinese visitors this year, way above the original earlier projection of 5mn, under the ‘Great Resumption’ tourism policy, and Phuket will be right back enjoying the ‘natural phenomena’ of algae blooms in the west coast bays again soon.
Meanwhile, Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew met with Sarun Charoensuwan, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok last week to discuss efforts to promote Phuket’s bid to host the World Specialised Expo 2027-28, already branded as ‘Phuket Expo 2028’.
The meeting was part of Thailand’s campaign to solicit support in the international community in its bid to host the expo, as each country gets one vote to determine which one of the five candidates will win the right to host the expo. (The other four candidates are the United States, Serbia, Spain and Argentina.)
Unless the expo bid is to rely on those members of the international community living in a vacuum and being fully unaware of any developments in Thailand unless Thai officials tell them, it is going to be a hard sell.
Worse, keep in mind that the proposed dates for Phuket to host the expo are from March 20 to June 17, 2028 – with two months of the prime ‘algae bloom season’ to be enjoyed before the annual southwest monsoon rains arrive in May. Of course many visitors come to Phuket to enjoy the local culture, but they will most unlikely want to be swimming in it.
On paper, the solution to Phuket’s wastewater problem is simple: harsher penalties for fouling waterways, the development of wastewater systems actually designed to cope with the load they will encounter and so on. Yet so far it is been a long, ongoing battle for officials to give this dire postcard the proper attention.
There is still time before the expo bid goes to vote in June this year, and years before the expo is to be held, but this cannot be one aspect of Phuket’s development left ignored while trying to win the right to host a major international event based on sustainability and future. They need to start now.
Of course we all want Phuket to win the bid to host Expo 2028, we just want Phuket to be capable and worthy of hosting it.
Pooliekev | 16 January 2023 - 15:15:21