Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin gave his approval today to a cruise ship terminal project on Samui Island, which will be able to accommodate up to 120 cruise ships annually and generate about eight billion baht in revenue.
He also instructed the Transport Ministry to coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Surat Thani provincial administration in formulating a detailed plan for the project, for submission to the cabinet this year.
The prime minister visited Samui Island today to inspect the proposed site for the terminal and to discuss the major problems of the island, like waste management, with business operators and local officials, as part of his 3-day inspection trip to Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces.
Srettha said that Samui Island is one of ten locations in Asia visited by cruise ships, but a number of them do not visit the island because it does not have an appropriately largeterminal. This has prompted the idea of building a terminal in Laem Hin Khom of Taling Ngam sub-district on the island.
The project, estimated to cost 12 billion baht, would enablecruise ships to visit and bring in more high-spending tourists, said the prime minister.
During the visit to the island, he was served Kaeng Tai Pla, one of the traditional southern dishes which was recently voted the world’s worst dish by the TasteAtlas online platform.
Image Courtesy: PM Srettha’s X post
He said in his “X” post today that he liked the dish, which he described as “very delicious”, adding, however, that it is likely that some foreigners will dislike the dish, for which they should not be blamed.
The dish is described as being a thick and aromatic fish curry, prepared with fermented fish entrails and a spicy curry paste, consisting of chili peppers, galangal, shrimp paste, turmeric, shallots and lemongrass.
