Koh Chang, a paradise tropical island located in Thailand's Trat province is to undergo a major facelift with the announcement of a ambitious development plan for the island that will install a marina with piers for yachts, boat-racing zones, and a huge undersea aquarium on the island in the sun.

"The proposed plan for Koh Chang island should go before Thailand's Cabinet within the next two weeks," Thanya Harnphol, the director of the Koh Chang Development Organization, announced yesterday.

The permanent secretary of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry of Thailand, Plodprasop Suraswadi, said the planned underwater sea aquarium would host a huge variety of fish and should attract huge number of tourists to Koh Chang.

He also said that new electric power and fresh water supplies for Koh Chang island will need to rely on supplies coming from the mainland through a to construct pipeline network. New roads would also be implemented on the island, not only to serve the transport needs of the visiting tourists, but also to beautify the dirt roads around the island, he added.

Plodprasop said the development plan for Koh Chang island include a huge amount of city planning focused on determining the best way for people and nature to co-exist on the island. and a special committee will screen the styles of resorts and hotels to be built on Koh Chang, he said.

He dismissed earlier reports that he had approved the construction of an incinerator on the island. "We haven't approved any incinerator or landfill facility yet," he told reporters. Plodprasop explained that he had simply approved a garbage-disposal plant that would turn some of the island's daily output of 10 million ton of garbage into fertilizer.

The plan to build the undersea aquarium attracted scorn from one of Thailand's prominent academic, who said the construction would not only be useless but also completely hurt the natural environment of Koh Chang island.

"Foreign tourists that travel to Koh Chang want to experience nature. Who among them will want to see fish in an aquarium or see more large concrete roads on the island? I wonder if the planned aquarium will be worth the investment," said Thorn Thamrongnawaswas, who is a prominent lecturer at Thailand's Kasetsart University.

He also pointed out that the waters around Koh Chang island are not clear enough for an underwater aquarium to take advantage of.