Work has begun on tearing
down structures blocking the South Pattaya canal, which have been
causing major flooding throughout South Pattaya during heavy rainfalls
over the past several years.
Warunya Thongrod
Area officials are beginning to make good on promises to clear the South
Pattaya drainage canal of privately owned obstructions, sending more
than 100 workers and equipment to remove roads, bridges and buildings
encroaching on public land.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho and Pattaya deputy mayors
Verawat Khakhay and Ronakit Ekasingh oversaw the April 22 operation
employing a backhoe, trucks and digging equipment near Soi Marine.
Sakchai had met with Pattaya officials April 8 to plan the removal of
the illegal structures blocking the flow of storm runoff to the sea. At
that meeting, Verawat reported that a recent inspection found up to 14
structures trespassing on the canal, covering about 4.5 rai of land.
Deputy Mayor Verawat
Khakhay (back) inspects areas of the South Pattaya canal that have been
encroached upon around Soi Marine with Land Department officers.
He promised that city hall would demolish the
impeding structures April 22. In a rare exception to the usual practice,
city hall actually carried out its threat.
Sakchai said the canal once was 8 meters wide but today, thanks to home
and business owners building on the adjacent land, the canal had
narrowed to an average of just 3 meters wide. Offenders run the gamut
from private individuals to large, influential hotel and mall owners,
such as the Siam Bayshore Hotel and Bali Hai Plaza.
The district chief noted that offenders were warned to removed the
obstructions or face demolition. Many complied while larger groups, such
as Siam Bayshore, began negotiating for time. Sakchai reaffirmed there
would be “no exceptions” no matter the size of the business involved.
“We received good cooperation from certain sectors while some are quite
stubborn,” said Sakchai, who admitted that previously “there have been
warnings to remove these structures, but there was no serious
monitoring” of whether they actually complied.
The district chief said holdouts would be given three days to comply and
that, once complete, the operation could recover four rai of public land
to widen the canal before the rainy season hits.
