Mukda Chirathivat Uawattanakul and Rattana Chirathivat Norapatlop of the Central Group conglomerate’s Chirathivat founding family were in Phuket last Friday (June 29) for the foundation stone ceremony at the site.
Also present for the ceremony was Central Department Store Limited Chief Operating Officer Piyapong Tanyasrisang PhD, who is currently named as head of Central Pattana Group (CPN), which acts as the development arm of the Central Group, along with Suchart Chaiyamongkol, currently named as branch manager for Central Patong while the project is under construction, and Warunee Cheunyen, named as the Assistant Managing Director for Central Patong.
Among the other guests present were Kathu District Chief Somprach Prabsongkram and high-ranking police.
No details of the Central Patong project have been released to the public so far by the Central Group other than being mentioned by Central Group Executive Chairman and CEO Tos Chirathivat in March this year as among the projects slated to “open” this year.
However, construction of Central Patong, located on five rai directly across from the Jungceylon mall (see map below), remains underway.
A source told The Phuket News this morning (July 4) that Central took over construction at the site “about early June” and that Central Patong will open “about the end of this year”.
However, the source was unable to confirm the cost of the project.
In announcing the Group’s strategy for 2015, Mr Tos in March said that in 2018 Central Group would fully implement its strategy to become “New Central, New E-conomy” to make Central Group a “best in class Tech company and a leader in Digi-Lifestyle Platform”.
“The company will continue growth in every direction as in previous successful years,” he said.
This year, the company has a sales target of B397.308 billion, representing growth of 14% on 2017, and plans investment of B47.5bn (27.8% growth from 2017), to expand investment in both Thailand and overseas.
“The company will develop its new business model to meet every customer demand, with plans to open new shopping malls and hotels,” said the release in March. Among the projects named were “Central Phuket 2 + Triphum Attraction” slated to open in Q3 this year and “Zen Patong, Phuket” slated to open in Q4 2018.
“An additional 459 new stores will be opened in Thailand and Vietnam throughout the year,” Central announced.
In 2017, Central Group had store penetration of 4,970 stores in 38 provinces. In the next five years to 2022, this will grow to 7,509 stores in 52 provinces, the company notes on its website.
Meanwhile, construction continues on the B20bn “Central Phuket” mega-project on 111 rai across from the long-standing Central Festival Phuket mall located on Phuket’s busy bypass road.
The Central Phuket project, originally slated for completion by Dec 2017 (see story here), is touted as having the largest sales space (leasable area) in Southern Thailand of 185,000 square meters.
It will become home to more than 700 stores, including Central Food Hall, Tops market, Power Buy, SuperSports, B2S, OfficeMate, SFX Cinema and “Aquaria”, the largest underwater world in Thailand and the largest ‘Aquascape’ in Thailand.