The 141-rai plot of land set aside for Phuket's unsuccessful bid to host the Specialised Expo 2028 will be used for a medical and wellness centre instead.
Narong Woonciew, Phuket governor, said the plot has been reassigned to be developed into a so-called Medical Plaza, which is backed by an estimated 1.4-billion-baht budget from the cabinet.
The initiative is part of Phuket's goal of becoming known as a wellness and medical city, Mr Narong said.
The Medical Plaza project comprises a one-stop medical centre operated by Vachira Phuket Hospital and a 5,000-capacity multipurpose convention centre.
Mr Narong said construction of the medical centre is expected to be completed by 2026. The centre's services include geriatric and palliative care, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and international healthcare.
He noted that Phuket would have executed its planned projects, such as cross-province highways, a light rail system, tunnels and a water supply system, if the city had been chosen for the Specialised Expo 2028.
"Since Phuket was not chosen for the expo, such infrastructure improvements might not be executed as soon as we would like them to," he said.
The governor added that Phuket put together a great bid for the expo that showed its potential, but the city did not gain the majority of votes from members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).
Phuket was one of five candidates bidding for the expo, along with Argentina's Bariloche, Spain's Málaga, the US's Minnesota and Serbia's Belgrade, which won the bid.
