Published on October 20, 2005

A Bt130 billion development plan for Phuket Bay – which reportedly includes a casino – is in the pipeline, and a number of overseas companies have already shown interest in investing in the project, Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura said yesterday.

Once the plan gets the Cabinet’s in-principle approval, the province will move to forge agreement among the government agencies involved, including the Finance Ministry and the National Economic and Social Development Board, and seek a consultant company to work on the details of the project’s Terms of Reference (TOR), Udomsak said yesterday.

The budget for the project will come entirely from the private sector, necessitating a high level of communication between all the parties involved, he said, adding that a public hearing on the project would be the next step in ensuring this. A number of overseas companies from Japan, Singapore and China have expressed interest in the project as well as Ital-Thai Co Ltd and the current concessionaires of the land earmarked for the project, Tongkah Harbour Public Co Ltd, whose lease runs out in 2008.

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