Present for the occasion, Phuket Vice Governor Prakob Wongmaneerung explained that the project is part of a nationwide push by the Ministry of Interior to tidy up ugly overhead cables in 74 provinces.
The nationwide campaign is to be completed in June next year, he said.
“Disorderly cables have been a problem for Thailand for a long time, and sometimes the cables hang down and may cause danger to those passing by,” he said.
Phuket PEA Manager Wichan Praenam explained that the work to tidy up the cables along Mae Luan Rd was just the beginning of Stage 1 of the next phase of Phuket campaign, which will remove unused telecommunications cables along six sections of main roads.
Stage 1 will see unnecessary cables removed from 1,765 power/utility poles along 31.85 kilometres of road, Mr Wichan said.
Mae Luan Rd is the first road to be worked on, with unneeded cables removed from the intersection with Yaowarat Rd to Wichit Songkram Rd, he explained.
“We expect to finish this before the end of October,” he added.
Next, Thepkrasattri Rd will be targetted in three stages: 1) from the Isuzu dealership in Koh Kaew to the Bang Khu Intersection; 2) from Bang Khu Intersection to the WorKor Intersection (leading to Phuket Rajabhat University); amd 3) from the WorKor Intersection to Satree Phuket School (intersection with Thungkha Rd and Damrong Rd).
The last section of road to have unnecessary cables removed will be in Patong, where workers will clear extra cables from in front of the Masjid Nurul Islam mosque on Phra Baramee Rd to to Loma Circle near the Patong beachfront.
Stage 2 of the campaign will see cables removed from 1,355 power/utility poles along 24.5km of road, Mr Wichan added.
Stage 2 will see cables cleared from: 1) along Damrong Rd, from Satree Phuket School to Region 8 Labor Court; 2) all along Surin Rd; 3) all along Narisorn Rd; 4) Rassadanusorn Rd, from Thepkrasattri Rd to Trang Rd; and 5) along the Patong-Kamala road, from Loma Circle to Laem Singh.