Phuket: A century-old prison on this resort island is being turned into a public park in the heart of the famous old town area.
The park will come with a sizeable car park to better serve visitors to the old town where parking spaces are currently scarce. About 33 rai of the entire 47 rai of Phuket's old prison, built in 1901, has been designated for the site of the new 240-million-baht park, the design of which will be subjected to public hearings.
The province's prison has already been relocated to Bang Cho, in tambon Si Sunthon of Thalang district, said Amnuay Phimsuwan, a deputy provincial governor. The park will become a new island landmark built to not only attract tourists, but also to address concerns about environmental sustainability, he said.
Aside from serving as a new major green space on the island, the park will also double as a centre where visitors can learn about the history of Phuket's old prison and the city itself through an exhibition.
The prison conversion project will be funded by a Phuket municipality budget and will begin after feedback from the hearings is incorporated into the draft design, he said.
The park, together with the car park, will make Phuket's old town along Thalang Road more attractive to visitors, he said, adding that many people who previously found it hard to find parking spaces there do not come back. A lack of parking spaces in the old town is mostly to blame for bad traffic on Thalang Road, so when the new car park is built, it should also help ease traffic on this road, he said.
In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, Phuket had recorded 14.5 million visitors and tourism-related income close to 500 billion baht, among the highest figures in the country, said Mr Amnuay. This year, the province has so far welcomed around 10 million visitors and earned about 300 billion baht in tourism-related income, which is the highest tourism income by any province currently, he said.