PHUKET: Rejection of the application to build Phuket's long-anticipated conference centre is likely to trigger more serious debate about Phuket's future, and what kind of tourism it deserves.

The Environment Impact Assessment, as posted online by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, says that the area in Phuket's undeveloped north proposed for the convention centre ''should be preserved forever in its natural state.''

Low-lying mangrove forest that would form part of the site was the last natural remnant of mangrove forest on Phuket, the assessment said.

The site north-east of Mai Khao beach was designated as an ideal spot for the conference centre because of its proximity to Phuket International Airport and the neighboring provinces of Phang Nga and Krabi.

Rejection of the ambitious plan on the grounds of its environmental impact is likely to rekindle the major issue of how much more development Phuket can sustain before it becomes a much less attractive destination for tourism.

The site for the Phuket International Convention and Exhibition Center included an area where turtles still nested and hatched, the report said.

Several times in the past few years, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has been at loggerheads with business and Phuket governors in seeking to preserve the remaining natural glory of Phuket against an advancing wave of concrete.

International resort brands have joined the tourism rush in recent years, prompting development along Phuket's west coast that has virtually locked up all land and pushed property prices through the ceiling.

Remaining national forest areas along the coast are being defiled by greed and encroachment, with some local administrators taking their cut in under the table corruption.

Phuket's most popular west coast beaches are now in environmental decline because of the lack of law enforcement.

Restaurants have intruded onto public sand, jet-skis roar with impunity across bays where they are supposed to be banned, and waste water discharges illegally from polluting resorts.

Phuket's pulling power remains strong because, relatively speaking, it's still an attractive place. But in many ways Phuket today is a fool's paradise.

While the attractions of Phuket's beaches and coral reefs still puts bums on budget airline seats, the race to cash in on the island's natural beauty is akin to a slow-motion suicide.

Phuketwan welcomes the Natural Resources and Environment calling a halt to this appalling wave of destruction.

We look forward to the day when the Phuket authorities who recently orchestrated the bulldozing of a major road above Phuket's 80-metre building limit are arrested and thrust into jail.

And we look forward to the day when senior administrators who have signed to approve false land titles that put public land into private hands - a rotten deed if ever there was one - are locked in cells alongside them.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry represents Phuket's last hope for thoughtful planning and a sustainable future.

Even Patong's Mayor, Pian Keesin, long an advocate of development, admitted to Phuketwan last month that he had changed his mind and was now grateful to the former head of Phuket's Natural Resources and Environment office, Ong-art Chanachanmongkol, for introducing the 80-metre development height limit.

Much more needs to be done.

Serious, sincere thought is needed by the new government of Thailand over Phuket's long-term future.

There are plenty of conference centres everywhere. But Thailand will have only one chance to save Phuket for future generations.