Governor Narong Woonciew was joined by a group of fellow government officials and construction and road repair experts at the site around 2pm this afternoon to officially permit certain vehicles to use the road once again.
The vehicles were limited to “four-wheelers” such as saloons, vans and pick-ups, despite an announcement this morning that it would be limited to “small cars” only.
The road had been off-limits to such vehicles since Oct 19 when a landslide hit the area, causing damage to the road and making it temporaily unpassable.
The announcement came after Governor Narong had inspected the landslide site on the hill yesterday and after having attended a meeting with local officials to be brought up to speed on the safety of the site last night.
Work is continuing to stabilise the site with large rocks and heavier soil being placed at the base of the embankment exposed by the landslide.
Despite daily rainfall over the past few weeks, the site was deemed to be safe, said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) this morning.
The cumulative effect of the rainfall remains low. Water pressure in the soil at the site is still below critical threshold, the report said.
There has been no further soil movement at the site, the report continued.
“The road is still safe. The traffic route can be used carefully according to the conditions of the area,” the report concluded.