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Phuket's New Airport: See What It Looks Like
By Nussara Lem Friday, February 3, 2012
PHUKET: This is the first opportunity Phuket has had to take a look at the new design for Phuket International Airport.
The new terminal is one long wave, with glass allowing greater visibility and many improvements to the present system and flow through the airport.
These drawings were screened last night at a meeting where Airports of Thailand displayed for the first time the graphics and the planning that will go into construction of the new international terminal.
By converting the existing terminal into a domestic terminal and building a new international terminal at a cost of about 5.7 billion baht, air traffic to Phuket will be able to expand to 12.5 million passengers annually.
The existing upward limit has already been exceeded, with 8.4 million passengers passing through the existing terminal in 2011. About two million of those travellers are incoming overseas tourists.
The new airport will alleviate the bottlenecks now occurring as Phuket's popularity increases. But the next few years are likely to be daunting at times for airport staff and passengers.
We'll update with details of last night's meeting and what was revealed about Phuket airport planning later today.
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Comments
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All I see when I look at this is the hoards of Burmese 'slaves' who will be worked to the bone, treated like human refuse, kept in concentration like camps with no sanitation, clean water or anything to sleep on except a sheet of plywood, and paid the mighty sum of THB200 per day for the privilege...that is even if they do get paid at all...more than likely they will be given food stamps for the local van that comes past so they can 'purchase' a meagre amount of food with the promise of being paid on completion of the job...yeah right like that'll happen - instead, the project owner will call the police saying they are illegal workers and have them shipped back to Burma without being paid...every building project I see in Phuket just makes my blood boil...
Posted by
Anonymous
on
February 3, 2012 11:11
Editor Comment:
Not much point in allowing your moral indignation to run riot without good reason, Anonymous. The contract for construction of the project has yet to be agreed, so it's unfair to speculate. Nobody knows yet whether the airport will be built by a Burmese or a Thai workforce, and it's impossible to tell whether the workers will be underpaid, paid the 300 baht daily minimum, or perhaps more. Airports of Thailand is a Government-related body and obliged to take all concerns into account.
Dear editor - you sound like you're living elsewhere and not in Phuket. How about I let me and my "moral indignation" go and take some photographs when the work begins so that I can provide some weight for my argument which by the way is based on what I see every day here and what, amongst the people that I know at least, is common knowledge of work practices here. Honestly, your comment sounds extremely defensive when my thoughts were not at all aimed at your or your journalism and were merely a statement of what I know to be true and witness on a daily basis. What you wrote sounds far more like it came direct from the Government PR dept. and not an objective journalist!
Posted by
Anonymous
on
February 3, 2012 12:58
Editor Comment:
There are a great many construction firms on Phuket, some good, some not so good. To assume that a project for which the construction firm has yet to be appointed is going to be among the bad employers shows a lack judgement. We don't write Government PR, we just prefer facts to fiction. Sorry to impose a little reality, Anonymous person.
You provide your readers with an opportunity to provide feedback/thoughts/questions etc and yet you attack me for providing mine. You also are very snide in both comments regarding my wishing to remain anonymous and yet you provide us with the option of remaining anonymous. You are extremely judgemental and are not in the least objective. I was entitled to write what I saw as the 'reality' here and you are in no position to judge my opinion on the state of things. For you to state who is right and who is wrong, just adds to my argument that you are writing as though from a government body rather than an objective journalist. Your snide and passive aggressive approach to my initial and further post is extremely unprofessional, as is your assertion that you are unequivocally correct and in possession of ALL facts - this is indeed a sad day for journalism here in Phuket and you have just lost not just a subscriber but someone who was very enthusiastic about the Phuket Wan and what you do. I suggest you visit the Society of Professional Journalists and in particular pay close attention to their code of ethics.
Posted by
Anonymous
on
February 3, 2012 14:07
Editor Comment:
I am not attacking you, Anonymous, merely pointing out that your comment is flawed because it's not factual. As often stated, different opinions are fine - provided they're based on fact, not generalisations or falsehoods. In this case, you are defaming the construction company without even knowing which company has the job. Rant all you like, but if you can't see how foolish that is, then I hesitate to think how you go about making decisions in life. Our ethics are not in dispute. Sadly, yours are. As you've used a name on previous comments, it's doubly sad that you should hide behind 'Anonymous' in expressing a viewpoint on this occasion.
I would like PhuketWan to take photos of the completed Airport (no doubt 2016) and compare it to these comical computer drawings.
I do like that there are NO advertisement banners, a small walkway high up and a wide open space for cars to drive (not park) at the terminal.
And why are people cynical, because people know how the work progresses here and how much people are exploited and manipulated and so I do agree with Anonymous' s first post totally.
Posted by
Tbs
on
February 3, 2012 15:58
Editor Comment:
That means, tbs, that you, like Anonymous, have no need of further information to decide whether an individual or a business is good or bad. Most people would rather wait to see on a case by case basis before making that kind of judgement.
Dear Editor I don't know your real name and as with Anonymous it is not important.
Anonymous you have the same views as myself and have expressed them extremely well and accurately.
You obviously don't need to be told to "get out more often" !!!
Posted by
Anonymous Fan
on
February 3, 2012 15:58
Editor Comment:
Are you telling Anonymous to get out more often? Has someone told Anonymous to get out more often? What a puzzling first post.
I am not hiding under a synonym, but I do agree with mr. Anonymous that the editor here does try to create an argument. Sometimes I feel that Phuket wan readers comments are not appreciated by the editor if the comments are not in line with what is printed in the report.
Posted by
Charles
on
February 3, 2012 16:38
Editor Comment:
You're entitled to feel that way, Charles, even if it's not true. You are inclined to make assumptions. What if Mr Anonymous turns out to be a Ms Anonymous? What if the company that wins the contract to build the airport turns out to only employ Thais, and treats them well?
If commenters misrepresent the facts of the situation, I am certainly going to speak up, rather than have the facts misrepresented. This is not just good journalism, It's commonsense. If one of your friends says something you know is wrong, do you let it stand, or do you say: ''Hey, that's not right. This is actually what's happening.'' What kind of a friend would I be to let commenters who get it wrong imagine that they've got it right? Besides, we are the ones who would be sued for defamation over Anonymous's sweeping, unfair and untrue comment. She may think she's right based on her previous experience, but she can''t possibly predict whether the airport contractor will be a good or bad employee. None of us can - except perhaps tbs, who knows these things.
Curious as to where Anonymous lives in his eco-friendly non-contentious alfalpha sprout house?
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
February 3, 2012 21:36
Editor Comment:
''His'' house? You clearly live in a man's world. Anonymous could be male or female.
Owning a small business close to the existing airport, I'm keen to understand more about the proposed building layout plan. Is there a plan view available of this project for the general public?
Simon
Posted by
Simon Luttrell
on
February 3, 2012 22:54
Editor Comment:
It would be standard for a display to be set up at the old airport to explain what's happening at the new airport, even with space at a premium. Give the AoT a little time.
Fact is, there are not enough Thai people on Phuket, willing to work or for that salary Burmese are willing to work for.
If different there would not be necessary to have so much Burmese people on the island. Driven around on big trucks in big numbers, same cattle and pigs. In the night hidden in some jungle camps with lousy conditions.
It can be forseen, that subcontractors will use the cheapest workforce (Burmese-with small salary and bad living conditions) on that Phuket-Airport Megaproject.
-Cheap labour, will be neceassary to pay all the bribes to get the contracts in the first place! ;-) -
Who thinks differently must believe the Thai Businessmen transform to SAINTS in the near future! ;-)
Posted by
Alfred
on
February 4, 2012 16:54
Editor Comment:
Alfred, unless you are a fortune teller, nothing can be foreseen. You can speculate all you like, but assumptions are for people who would rather guess than think. In my experience, there are both good and bad employers, and some of them happen to be women as well. I am not suggesting whoever builds the airport will be a Saint. All I am saying is that it's too soon to tell. And it's disappointing to find that most of the commenters here appear to be fortune-tellers. Even worse than that, fortune-tellers with emoticons.
Misleading headline Boss.
" Phuket's New Airport: See What It Looks Like Now "
We know what it looks like now, blind Freddy can see that. Total shambles, what a sh1t fight. No parking, unsightly bill boards, overpriced concession stalls, touts everywhere, rip-off duty free, lengthy immigration queues and no end in sight until maybe.. Quote " Estimates of the date of completion have slipped back from 2014 to mid-2015." That's over 3 years away at best L.O.L.
Good news is the airport radar is working again yesterday at last since being down for over a week.
They haven't even considered the soon to be workhorse of international travel the A380 Airbus. No plan to even have the runway long enough to land it ( oh' we must look into that, sorry for the oversight ) let alone the dual airbridges necessary to unload 500 + passengers. You cant get that number of optimistic tourists, who believe they've just arrived for their trouble free vacation of a lifetime, on 2 decks out one door before the plane is due to take off again.
No doubt the designers and architects have already got their slice of the pie with more to follow down the line to the contractors and the concession holders.
@ Simon.
Build the biggest airport hotel you can afford. It will be full of punters waiting for the next flight out. Need a backer?
Posted by
innocent bystander
on
February 4, 2012 20:35
Mr.Ed.
Your comment remembers me to the Ostrich tale.
=Ostrich gives his head in the sand, what he is not seeing than, does not exist.=
I like Phuket Wan, but do you get paid from the Thai or Phuket Goverment? ;-)
Posted by
Alfred
on
February 5, 2012 00:43
Editor Comment:
What's the emoticon, Alfred, for 'My opinion is worthless but I keep giving it'?
Ed: how long are you living in this country?
I am here for the last 17 years ( seventeen ) and I have a feeling that you know not half of what you are talking about. It seems that you are living in a dream world. Wake up.
Posted by
Charles
on
February 5, 2012 14:16
Editor Comment:
Is there some point you wish to make, Charles, or are you always ignorant and insulting on Sundays?
My opinion is worthless? Who decides that?
You? For whom you decide that? For yourself, for the whole public who is reading here?
You are rude and it seems to me that you need only a place where you can open your big mouth and tell us how the world is running and what is right and wrong!
Thats why you opened that Website in the first place.
Without our klicks and comments and the klicks and readers of such comments your sight will run out of advertising money.
But if you not care you are possibly paid by the Thai-Phuket Goverment or TAT to see all from a smooth perspective and shout at everything different in a rude style!
And what problem you have with emoticons, did one bite you as a child? :-)
Posted by
Alfred
on
February 5, 2012 14:47
Editor Comment:
Alfred, if logic is something you can't understand, then nothing is going to work. Let's take this step by step, slowly: Until the construction of the airport begins, you are only guessing about the quality of the workers. When you see them working, and when we ask the AoT where they are from and how much they are being paid, then you will be entitled to comment. Understand that? I hope so. Otherwise, keep your insults for your emoticons.
Mr.Ed.
Wait until we see what is happening?
From Saulus to Paulus?
That is same you say, -wait until next day until the Tiger is eating once more, than we see if he eats meat and bones again. Ha, ha.
Posted by
Alfred
on
February 5, 2012 16:47
Editor Comment:
Just as well you are not a judge, Alfred, or the jail would be filled with innocent people.
@ Ed: I was trying to find out how long you are living in this country. And you didn't answer my question. I am not insulting. Just seeing the fact that you are trying to avoid answering questions, and seeing this through pink glasses. I believe that I am not the only one that thinks you are ignorant.
Posted by
Charles
on
February 6, 2012 08:26
Editor Comment:
Living in a country for a long period or a short period doesn't affect your ability to tell right from wrong, Charles, which is the important point to remember. You are entitled to think what you like, even if you get it wrong. Experience only entrenches prejudice in those who prefer it..
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Is it designed to remind people about the Tsunami wave ?
Posted by Chalongian on February 3, 2012 08:37