BANGKOK: The Joint Public and Private Sector Consultative Committee (JPPSCC) in the Andaman provinces has urged Airports of Thailand (AoT) to continue its feasibility study on Phang Nga Airport.
The plans for the new airport to be built in Phang Nga were explained to Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Laksanavisit during a site inspection yesterday in 2019. Photo: PR Phang Nga / file
A meeting of the JPPSCC in the Andaman provinces of Krabi, Trang, Phang Nga, Phuket, Ranong and Satun was held recently to continue talks with Phuket Airport after the AoT decided to defer the project, reports the Bangkok Post.
Jaran Pandang, deputy director of Phuket Airport, said the AoT’s policy, planning and budget committee decided to defer the plan to build Phang Nga airport because the AoT must abide by a Cabinet resolution from August 2022.
The Cabinet ordered the AoT to oversee the management of Udon Thani, Buri Ram and Krabi international airports and suspended the plan to build an airport in Phang Nga.
The AoT received an B11-million budget in November 2020 for a preliminary feasibility study for the airport.
The terms of reference were set in May 2021. The investment needed is around B100 billion and the airport could be complete by 2027. But the project has been suspended since last year.
Lertsak Ponklin, president of the Phang Nga Tourism Association, urged the JPPSCC to ask the AoT to keep the project going as it could take up to 10 years to build the airport.
Phuket airport has reached its full capacity of 14mn passengers a year. If it is expanded, it can handle up to 17mn, still below its peak period when it handled about 18mn passengers before the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“I cannot imagine when the economy picks up and when it is high season, how crowded Phuket airport will be. So, we need to prepare,” Mr Jaran said.
Source: The Phuket News