PHUKET: Start again, Phuket needs to sort out its pollution problems properly. That was the message yesterday to one of Phuket's mayors who thought he had done the right thing.

He was told to think again, and to solve the Bang Tao canal pollution so it will be a ''Phuket role model.''

Cherng Talay mayor Ma-Ann Samran told a meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall in Phuket City that he had called a meeting of 47 businesses with access to the canal and warned them not to discharge pollution into the klong.

Good work, said Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak. But not good enough. ''Why weren't we invited?'' he asked Mayor Ma-Ann.

''I would have liked to have been there. The governor would have liked to have been there. These issues are important for all Phuket.

''Pollution is no longer just a local issue. Public Health officials and Natural Resources officials should have been there.

''Please reconvene a meeting with all the busineses for June, and check to make sure - there could be more businesses who need to be there.''

Vice Governor Somkiet said that at the June meeting, all the Bang Tao businesses would be asked to produce their land title papers, construction permission and evidence that they were disposing of ''bad water'' properly.

''It's time you and everyone else looked at the big picture,'' he told the mayor.

''We need to clarify whether these people have permission to construct their resorts and whether they are operating them with environmental sensitivity.

''I want to make the Bang Tao canal a role model for treatment of bad water on Phuket.''

Foul, polluted water blackened Bang Tao beach a few weeks ago, forcing locals to go public and tell the media about a problem that had been allowed to fester because of lack of local enforcement.

The vice governor wasn't done. ''I am told the Director of Thalang dismisses this problem by saying 'We have had this for a long time. It's an old-fashioned problem'.

''He has to be made to change his mind. If Bang Tao beach has the reputation for being polluted, there is no point in expecting tourists to continue to come to that part of Phuket.

''The same applies to all over Phuket. The Director of Thalang should revise his opinion. He needs a reality check.''

Vice Governor Somkiet also said the mayor was probably spending money he needn't on the dredging cleanup project, which the mayor said was 80 percent complete.

''The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has a budget for clearing canals,'' the vice governor said. ''No point in you spending money unnecessarily.''