PHUKET: The aesthetics of Phuket's billboards, spaghetti cables, signage and holes in the road came up again yesterday in a meeting of officials at Phuket City's Provincial Hall and for once, some solutions were on offer.

Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada suggested that private companies should be told that their cables will in future be cut down unless an answer can be found to the jumble that swings from Phuket's power poles along most roads.

Knowing what to do with them has been a dangling conversation. The holiday island's billboards hardly impress visitors either, and yesterday the Phuket Department of Roads was instructed to come up with a zoning program designed to restrict the number of billboards.

With the national government cutting funding - presumably to cope with the central province floods as a priority - Vice Governor Jamleran said the Department of Public Works and Planning had to respond to filling the dangerous potholes that have begun to appear in some of Phuket's main roads.

After the Phuket Games 2012, the vice governor said, it had become evident that Phuket needs to look more attractive if it is to enhance its international appeal.

Attempts to remove the intersection floral garland sellers, though, appear to have failed for now.

A police representative said that while there was a risk of crashes at high speed if people stopped at the wrong moment to buy a garland, some drivers had actually protested when police stepped in to arrest sellers recently.

On the agenda was the need for standardised road signage, both private and official.

Vice Governor Jamleran hopes the new billboard zonimg plan can be in place within 30 days.