BT2 BILLION EARMARKED FOR PHUKET CONFERENCE CENTRE

       Phuket will receive a Bt2-billion central government budget in fiscal 2010 to build the long-awaited international convention and exhibition centre at the island's northern tip, the Prime Minister's Office has announced.
       Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who currently serves as deputy secretary of the political affairs section at the PM's Office, made through the Phuket provincial office.
       A Democrat Party insider, Anchalee is also a former president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation (PPAO) and wife of sitting Phuket MP Tossaporn.
       According to the press release, Phuket will get Bt2 billion in funding for the project as part of phase two of the government's Bt100-billion "Strong Thailand Action Plan 2012" stimulus package.
       Administered by the Finance Ministry, the huge spending bill will pump money into the economy, boosting it over the last three months of this year, Anchalee wrote.
       Terms of the spending plan are still under review by Parliament, but final approval is expected prior to the start of fiscal 2010 on October 1.
       When completed, the centre will allow Phuket to host international exhibitions on the same scale as the International Tourism Bourse held annually in Berlin, Germany, she wrote.
       Events hosted at the centre will boost tourist arrivals and lead to increased revenue over the entire resort island, she said.
       Better economic infrastructure and human resources will need to be developed to cope with the expected surge in arrival figures above the present rate of about five million per year, she wrote.
       The site of the project will be a 150-rai plot of seaside land on the northern tip of the island.
       The land is currently held under the Treasury Department's State Property Management and Services Office, or Ratchapassadu.
       The site is near the Bt50-million Phuket Welcome Gate, a facility conceived by Anchalee and built during her tenure as PPAO president.
       Plans to build an international convention and exhibition centre to help support the island's hotel industry have been around for decades, but political instability and infighting over where the project should be located have prevented the dream from ever becoming reality.
       Detractors, especially those with business interests in the more development southern part of the island, feel the location is too remote from the island's main population centre.
       Proponents say the international convention and exhibition centre will help further develop nearby Phang Nga as well as mai Khao, which is already home to the Phuket International Airport and is slated to be the new home of Provincial Police Region 8 headpuarters in a few years' time.