Deputy Mayor Ronakit
Ekasingh chairs Pattaya’s jet ski anti-scam committee.
Phasakorn Channgam
The committee tasked with resolving Pattaya’s long-running jet
ski scandal has approved a revised insurance scam that would force
watercraft vendors to carry policies covering a minimum 50,000 baht
for damage, death and total disability.
The panel, comprised of city and provincial government and police
officials, voted unanimously Jan. 5 to approve the new insurance
requirements, which they hope will remove the incentive for jet ski
vendors to extort tourists for hundreds of thousands of baht in
alleged damage. The proposal still must be approved by Chonburi’s
governor.
“All jet skis must be insured to prevent
accidents and situations which that lead to losses,” said Deputy
Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh, the committee chairman.
The panel first proposed a weak mandatory-insurance for jet ski
vendors in September that focused on keeping premiums low for jet
ski vendors while offering consumers just 2,000 baht coverage for
damage and no compensation for injuries or death. The proposal
approved this month improves substantially upon the original plan.
Vendors would be free to choose their own insurance, rather than
relying on a single city-approved supplier, as proposed in
September. According to city officials, three companies are now
marketing insurance policies for jet skis, two of which currently
are operating in Phuket, which instituted mandatory insurance
coverage in 2009.
Policies would be required to cover a at least
50,000 baht in damage to the jet ski, 50,000 baht for the driver’s
death or total disability or 15,000 baht for injury. Each policy
also would have to pay out at least 25,000 baht for property damage,
and 15,000 baht for injury or 50,000 baht for death/total disability
of a third party.
Ronakit said 467 jet skis have so far been registered with the city.
All insured jet skis will carry stickers visible to renters and
those operators found not to be carrying insurance will be barred
from operating on Pattaya’s beaches, he said.
