DESPITE Phuket's obvious need for a budget based on the amount of cash it delivers to the national coffers, the island has been seriously short-changed again.
The Governor, Niran Kalayanamit, is bitterly disappointed that the island's annual allocation for 2009 has been slashed by about half compared to 2008.
Governor Niran asked for 300 million baht. He received 154 million baht. Some of these funds have to be shared with other provinces because Phuket is leader of the Andaman grouping.
''What can I do?'' Governor Niran told Phuketwan. ''We cannot do anything new. Projects become impossible without proper funding.''
The national government told the governor that the island's financial allocation had been reduced because funding for big projects would come direct from Bangkok in future.
The governor, on the other hand, would like Phuket treated as a special economic zone, with its own power to make decisions affecting its future.
While the 60 billion baht Ao Phuket project has the backing of the national government, local residents have consistently rejected the concept.
The Ao Phuket project for a marina and conference centre on reclaimed land off Phuket City was first proposed back in 1989 as part of a plan to give Phuket economic independence.
Independence is no longer part of the rekindled plan.
The Ao Phuket project is, in Phuketwan's view, two decades out of date.
The island has developed in different ways and no longer needs an Ao Phuket. The benefits are difficult to see.
The project would prove ridiculously expensive today and only deliver a profit to the people who construct it.
Phuket has plenty of land closer to the airport for a conference centre and sports centre that would produce a better outcome without causing perpetual gridlock on the roads.
As for the 60 billion baht . . . most of Phuket's key problems could be solved for a lot less than that.
A second airport or the expansion of the existing one, a sensible garbage recycling system, water for the island's future, proper protection of the coral reefs and beaches . . . all this could be done, with money to spare.
Revenue earned from foreign visitors accounts for seven to eight percent of the country's gross domestic product, with Phuket contributing a growing share.
Do You Take This Name . . .
WOMEN in Thailand can now keep their own family name after they marry. The law came into effect on June 4.
The District Chief Officer of Phuket City, Visit Khuratanawat, said that many women came on the first day to take advantage of the new law.
''Some people have been waiting 25 years for this to happen,'' he said.
Some of the women have been divorced yet unable to reclaim their family name. Others were happily married but preferred their own family name to their husband's, he said.
One 42-year-old woman making the change, Tanyamon Boontawatchai (her family name) said: ''It's good for me because I divorced seven years ago and prefer to no longer have to use my husband's name.''
Women did not need their husband's permission to switch to their family name, Khun Visit said. All the other benefits of marriage remained intact.
An ID card, a registered home address and a marriage certificate were the documents women needed to make the change.
TAT to Boost Visitor Numbers from Taiwan, Japan
THE Orborjor is backing a TAT roadshow to Taiwan and Japan but has cut the amount it would usually contribute.
Some of the money that would have gone on road shows will be spent to bring media from other countries to visit Phuket instead.
The new president of the Orborjor, Paiboon Upatising, said that many Phuket business people thought the money would be better-spent that way.
The Orborjor was looking at new ways of encouraging tourism, he said. The road shows will receive three million baht.
The Taiwanese market, with Hong Kong and mainland China, accounted for 600,000 visitors a year before the 2004 tsunami but in 2007 those three destinations delivered fewer than 300,000 visitors.
Japanese, like the Taiwanese, were reluctant to return in numbers after the big wave.
The Governor, Niran Kalayanamit, is bitterly disappointed that the island's annual allocation for 2009 has been slashed by about half compared to 2008.
Governor Niran asked for 300 million baht. He received 154 million baht. Some of these funds have to be shared with other provinces because Phuket is leader of the Andaman grouping.
''What can I do?'' Governor Niran told Phuketwan. ''We cannot do anything new. Projects become impossible without proper funding.''
The national government told the governor that the island's financial allocation had been reduced because funding for big projects would come direct from Bangkok in future.
The governor, on the other hand, would like Phuket treated as a special economic zone, with its own power to make decisions affecting its future.
While the 60 billion baht Ao Phuket project has the backing of the national government, local residents have consistently rejected the concept.
The Ao Phuket project for a marina and conference centre on reclaimed land off Phuket City was first proposed back in 1989 as part of a plan to give Phuket economic independence.
Independence is no longer part of the rekindled plan.
The Ao Phuket project is, in Phuketwan's view, two decades out of date.
The island has developed in different ways and no longer needs an Ao Phuket. The benefits are difficult to see.
The project would prove ridiculously expensive today and only deliver a profit to the people who construct it.
Phuket has plenty of land closer to the airport for a conference centre and sports centre that would produce a better outcome without causing perpetual gridlock on the roads.
As for the 60 billion baht . . . most of Phuket's key problems could be solved for a lot less than that.
A second airport or the expansion of the existing one, a sensible garbage recycling system, water for the island's future, proper protection of the coral reefs and beaches . . . all this could be done, with money to spare.
Revenue earned from foreign visitors accounts for seven to eight percent of the country's gross domestic product, with Phuket contributing a growing share.
Do You Take This Name . . .
WOMEN in Thailand can now keep their own family name after they marry. The law came into effect on June 4.
The District Chief Officer of Phuket City, Visit Khuratanawat, said that many women came on the first day to take advantage of the new law.
''Some people have been waiting 25 years for this to happen,'' he said.
Some of the women have been divorced yet unable to reclaim their family name. Others were happily married but preferred their own family name to their husband's, he said.
One 42-year-old woman making the change, Tanyamon Boontawatchai (her family name) said: ''It's good for me because I divorced seven years ago and prefer to no longer have to use my husband's name.''
Women did not need their husband's permission to switch to their family name, Khun Visit said. All the other benefits of marriage remained intact.
An ID card, a registered home address and a marriage certificate were the documents women needed to make the change.
TAT to Boost Visitor Numbers from Taiwan, Japan
THE Orborjor is backing a TAT roadshow to Taiwan and Japan but has cut the amount it would usually contribute.
Some of the money that would have gone on road shows will be spent to bring media from other countries to visit Phuket instead.
The new president of the Orborjor, Paiboon Upatising, said that many Phuket business people thought the money would be better-spent that way.
The Orborjor was looking at new ways of encouraging tourism, he said. The road shows will receive three million baht.
The Taiwanese market, with Hong Kong and mainland China, accounted for 600,000 visitors a year before the 2004 tsunami but in 2007 those three destinations delivered fewer than 300,000 visitors.
Japanese, like the Taiwanese, were reluctant to return in numbers after the big wave.
