Mr Theeraphat made the announcement through a video segment posted by Radio Thailand Phuket yesterday (Sept 2).
The burying of power and communications cables along Bangla Rd follows the completion of burying the cables along Thaweewong Rd (the beach road), Mr Theeraphat said.
“The next project will be another well-known Bangla Rd, followed by Pisit Koranee Rd and the road in front of Wat Patong respectively,” he said.
“After the project is completed, there will not be power poles or cables, especially communication cables which are disordered and disturbing to tourists’ eyes.
“We will also cover the switch boxes along the road with images of our attractions [Phuket’s natural tourist attractions] to make them [the switch boxes] beautiful,” he added.
“The PEA has projects to put electric cable underground in big cities across the country. Phuket is considered one of the big cities, especially Patong where is well-known destination among tourists around the world.
“Under the cooperation between the PEA and Patong Municipality, the cable on the beachfront Thaweewong Rd has already been put underground. The project started in 2019 and finished in the beginning of 2021 under the budget about B220 million,” Mr Theeraphat said.
Of note, the move to install cables throughout Patong was launched in 2015, and was confirmed last year that the project to bury the cables along the patong beachfront was being funded by a budget of B213,640,647 provided by Patong Municipality, supported by a budget of B60,365,957 provided by the Provincial Electricity Authority.
The beachfront section of the project, along three kilometres of the Patong beach road from the Pak Bang Canal at the southern end of the beach to Haad Patong Rd near Loma Park, was carried out under contract by joint-venture I.M.P Consortium
Mr Theeraphat in his announcement gave no indication of the cost for the Bangla Rd - Pisit Koranaee Rd project, or when the project was scheduled to start, or be completed by.
Mr Theeraphat and other officers at the Phuket PEA office were unavailable today to answer questions about the project.