PHUKET: Two large reservoirs on Phuket are to be given a 590 million baht makeover to add appeal as public parks for tourist activities, the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation announced yesterday.

Bang Wad Dam will gain a seminar zone for up to 200 people and a botanic gardens while Bang Niew Dam will also be beautified and provision for camping added. The botanic gardens is expected to become a resource for Phuket students wanting to know more about local varieties of trees and plants.

Organisation Chief Executive Paiboon Upatising said that the project would add to Phuket's places to go and provide destinations in central Phuket, between Phuket's already popular west coast beaches and the increasingly appealing Phuket east coast.

Local authorities, Tourism and Sport, the Highways Department and other officials are all keen for the project to go ahead, Khun Paiboon told a gathering of stakeholders yesterday.

Planning and design work are expected to be completed by December.

The announcement of the creation of the two new public parks comes as observers contrast the massive amounts of rain falling on Phuket now with the likely shortfall of drinking water in February and March as the island's growing popularity continues to outpace its infrastructure.