Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suthithamrongsawat, at a city hall meeting last week, stated that he felt the orders given by the Department of the Environment to demolish 101 businesses in South Pattaya, "were wrong".

Mayor Pairat Suthithamrongsawat is giving his support to the 101 business owners in South Pattaya.

"The area is a major income earner for Pattaya and the country. It is also a major tourist venue with which visitors are familiar," the mayor said.

Mayor Pairat also cited that former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, during his administration, gave permission for this area to be one of nine projects to enhance tourism.

The Department of the Environment has ordered that the buildings be torn down. The Pattaya City Council was ordered by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology to demolish the buildings, build a permanent pier, and institute a landfill project on the 18.79 rai vacated by the 101 businesses.

The business people have protested the orders from the beginning. Their main point is that the area has been in use for such a long period of time that the people who developed it should not be disenfranchised.

In last week’s meeting at city hall, reasons for not doing this were collected to present to the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism on February 11, 1999. Members of the National Committee on the environment were invited to this meeting.