PHUKET will gain a new tsunami warning centre for the Andaman coast at a cost of 147 million baht - and the winning design for Phuket's new convention centre will imitate the shape of a turtle.

Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha announced both important developments for the island's future today.

The tsunami centre will be part of an enlarged coastal warning project that will add extra beachfront towers along the sea in Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga and Trang.

Two tsunami warning drills are to be held each year, and local government authorities will be given responsibility for maintaining and securing the warning towers, the governor said.

A radio system is to replace the telephone connection system in the warning process, he said. The governor did not say where the centre will be sited.

On Phuket's winning design for the 2.6 billion MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) centre, to be erected on government land at Mai Khao, approval for the turtle design, one of three finalists, came at a Cabinet decision on Tuesday.

Governor Tri, who was on the judging panel, said the design would be modified to incorporate the Sino-Portuguese style of architecture for which locals have expressed a preference.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij headed a Bangkok delegation that explained the final three contending options to about 600 Phuket people at the Metropole Hotel in Phuket City last Sunday.