PHUKET: First the good news: The infamous hole in Phuket's Patong Hill road is going to be repaired at a cost of 22 million baht.

And the bad news: Virtually one lane across the hill between Phuket City and Patong will be closed for five months during the complicated repair work.

Phuketwan's dramatic photo album shows how close the buildings at the base of the hill come to the steep slope.

This makes the repair work extra difficult and much more expensive.

The Director of Phuket's Roads Department, Samak Lerdhutwong, revealed yesterday to Phuketwan that a contract had been signed for the 22 million baht project, with work possibly beginning as early as next week and lasting five months.

''It won't be easy,'' Khun Samak said. ''A five-metre retaining wall has to be constructed to shore up the road safely.

''That means we will need to suspend a crane from the roadway and build the wall using the crane. We have to get it fixed and make sure it's solid.''

Revealing progress on Phuket's other major projects, Khun Samak gave Phuketwan the following rundown:

Central Festival Phuket footbridge A design for the replacement footbridge for the one that made way for the underpass project is now being reviewed in Bangkok. Because there can be no mid-road supports, the new ''suspension'' bridge will be quite different.

Central Festival Underpass Work on the underpass is not expected to be severely hampered by monsoon season rains because the contractors have plenty of experience working in the wet.

Tesco Lotus Underpass The contract is due to be signed next month and work should begin almost straight away.

Phuket City Mangrove Flyover With no takers for the original project, the design has been modified to make it worthwhile to contractors and a new tendering process is underway.