Residents of Patong held a protest preceding a public meeting to decide if a tunnel is needed to ease traffic between Patong and Phuket Town. 100 people marched along the beach road waving banners saying “We Need the Tunnel”. About 500 people attended a meeting at Phuket Graceland Resort which it a part of feasibility study for the tunnel. The 40-million baht cost feasibility study will determine drilling Patong Hill which will cost about 2.4 billion baht.
Organized by Patong Municipality and Epsilon, the company performing the feasibility study, the meeting were attended by Regional Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob, and Mayor of Patong Pian Keesin who strongly supports the tunnel and use it as the main issue in his reelection campaign.
Prayat Nopparat, spokesperson of taxi club Patong told local newspaper Phuketwan that the tunnel will improve service in transporting tourists between Patong and the airport as well as improving the road safety in general. Advocates of the tunnel believed that the route climbing up and rolling down Patong Hill is dangerous whilst opponents believed that crash in the tunnel would be even more dangerous.
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