Emergency work was performed
on the Dusit Curve last year, adding sand to 193 meters of severely eroded
beachfront while officials lobbied for funding for a more-permanent
solution.
Jetsada Homklin
Pattaya officials hope to launch a 468 million baht beach-restoration
project in May, hiring a contractor to rebuild the shoreline before it is
wiped out by erosion.
Speaking at the Pattaya Business & Tourism Association’s April 9 meeting at
the Grand Sole Hotel, Marine Department manager Raewat Potriang said the
city currently is taking bids from contractors for the three-phase project
and hopes to hire a company to begin work next month.
The first work will be done in adding sand to the beach between the Dusit
Curve and Central Road. The second phase runs to South Road while the third
phase restores shoreline down to Bali Hai Pier.
Emergency work was performed on the Dusit Curve last year, adding sand to
193 meters of severely eroded beachfront while officials lobbied for funding
for a more-permanent solution. The massive restoration project was deemed
necessary after environmental experts predicted erosion would wipe out
Pattaya Beach within five years if nothing was done.
In other business, Bunsom Yutithumpinyo, chief of the Water Allocation
Department at the Chonburi Provincial Irrigation Office, and Suthat Nutpat,
manager of the Provincial Waterworks Authority and East Water Group,
reviewed long-term plans to build water-supply capacity for Pattaya.
They said water will be pumped from Chachoengsao starting from next year to
be stored at the Bangpra reservoir. This will allow areas facing water
scarcity to have more water to use for short- and long-term use.
Next year, they said, it is very likely that Pattaya will have more water to
use and the PWA has planned for five years.
