|
Historic landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport augurs well for future of Thai aviation
Eastern Seaboard will benefit when airport fully operational next year
By Alisa Tang
Associated Press
Bangkok’s new international airport, plagued by everything
from cobras to corruption, will be fully operational next year, Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra vowed Thursday before boarding a test flight into the
facility.
 Thailand
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, front left, and former Prime Minister
Banharn Silpa-archa, front right, wave with Thai members of parliament to a
group of newsmen shortly after arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport. (AP
Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
Prior to the flight into Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thaksin and
other officials assured reporters that various avian and reptilian problems,
some of which posed potential safety hazards, were on the way to resolution.
“The problem of cobras, water monitor lizards and rats is
being resolved by nature itself since we have more than 30,000 workers building
the airport. They catch and eat the cobras and lizards,” said Somchai
Sawadiphol, the deputy managing director of the new airport.
He said that trees and bushes around the airport, located 45
kilometers (30 miles) east of Bangkok, were being cut down to rob migratory
birds, which usually congregate each October, of food and shelter. The local
press has played up the danger these birds might pose for aircraft landing and
taking off.
“The airport cost more than 150 million baht ($US 3.75
billion; euro 3 billion). We will not allow these animals to cause trouble or
delay the operational schedule,” Somchai said.
Thaksin said he was confident that the airport would be in
full commercial operation by June 2006 or the latest in October.
The airport will take over much of the traffic from the
existing Bangkok International Airport at Don Muang just north of the capital,
which reached its capacity several years ago and has been expanded several
times in the past three decades.
The growth in arrivals reflects the success of Thailand’s
tourism industry, one of the country’s biggest revenue-earners.
The new airport is supposed to accommodate up to 45 million
passengers a year, 76 flights an hour and over 3 million tons of cargo, making
it the country’s biggest and one of Asia’s finest.
The airport, first conceived in 1960, is sited on Nong
Nguhao, or “Cobra Swamp,” where villagers used to catch cobras and net fish
for livelihoods. Its construction has been hamstrung by numerous delays and
corruption scandals.
Earlier this year the project was linked to corruption in
connection with the procurement of explosive-detecting devices for the
airport’s baggage handling. The government denied the allegations and no
criminal charges have been filed, although the matter is still under
investigation.
It is expected that Pattaya and the Eastern Seaboard will
benefit tremendously in both the tourism and industrial sectors.
Pipeline from Bangpakong River to be completed
by the end of October
Narisa Nitikarn
At the meeting of the Pattaya Business & Tourism
Association (PBTA) last week President Thanet Supornsaharungsi and vice
president Sanga Kijsamret made an announced that they were seeking ways of
eradicating the chronic problem of water shortages threatening the
city’s hotels and tourism industry.
Thanet said that deputy prime minister Pinit Jarusombat
had visited Pattaya to examine the problem and suggested recycling
wastewater as a way of solving the water shortages. City hall was studying
wastewater filter treatment proposals submitted by private organizations.
However, experience in the United States has shown that
when fresh water supplies are replenished from treated wastewater, some
types of bacteria can remain in the water and in some cases prove fatal.
Thanet said he had learned from discussions with
Chonburi’s governor that the water pipe being laid to connect the
Bangpakong river to Bangpra and Mabprachan reservoirs, originally planned
to be completed next year, will be ready by the end of this October.
This he said is excellent news for Pattaya City because
it will be ready in time for the peak tourist season.
On the matter of water filtration, Sanga said that
people shouldn’t just sit around and wait for government intervention as
their support might be delayed. There must be work carried out to store
more water.
He added that the problem is not just one of a water shortage but also
with bad odors emitting from wastewater drainage equipment. In the last
four to five years the city has not had an odor problem but recently many
complaints have been received from tourists using the walkways. This
problem is already being addressed by using ozone gas to eradicate the
smell but it only serves to reduce the smell, not eliminate it all
together.
Marine search and rescue exercise helps ensure rapid response
in event of disaster
Narisa Nitikarn
The marine search and rescue exercise named SAREX 2005
was held off Jomtien Beach earlier this month to ensure that in the event of
an emergency the entire rescue services and equipment are able to work in a
rapid coordinated effort.
Preecha
Phetwong, deputy director general of the Marine Department, Chalermchai
Jinawicharana, assistant secretary to the Minister of Communication, and
Thawanrat On-sira, director general of the Department of Waterway
Transportation presided at the safety exercises.
Chalermchai Jinawicharana, assistant secretary to the
Minister of Communications, presided over the exercise which included the
Marine Department, the Department of Waterway Transportation, the Department
of Civil Aviation and a number of other official departments and private
organizations along with the deployment of equipment ranging from rubber
dinghies to helicopters.
Chalermchai said it is vital that rescue personnel and
services are trained effectively so they can respond with maximum
effectiveness in the event of a real incident occurring off the coast of
Thailand.
 Medics
using modern stretchers with neck supports to give emergency treatment to a
casualty before transferring the person to a hospital
Ensign Preecha Phetwong, deputy director general of the
Marine Department told Pattaya Mail that Thailand is an associate member of
the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, and the International
Maritime Organization, IMO. Thailand he said is obliged to maintain an
effective sea rescue service in order to support victims of maritime and
aviation accidents in her territorial waters.
The Rescue Co-Ordination Center, RCC, was established in
1978 and trains on a continuous basis. SAREX proved an excellent opportunity
for the RCC personnel to demonstrate their skills and equipment.
The service has trained jointly with other countries including for the
last two years Japan, with Brunei acting as a contact center. In Thailand
the International Civil Aviation Organization is responsible for
coordinating all activities including working with the Meteorological
Department to obtain information on the weather.
Pattaya Vegetarian Festival,
a spectacular event not to be missed
Following on from the first
successful festival held last year the Sawangboriboon Thammasatarn
Foundation in cooperation with Pattaya city hall and private organizations
are staging the second annual Pattaya Vegetarian Festival from October 2-12.
 The
Vegetarian Festival is a long-standing Thai-Chinese tradition, held in
almost every province in Thailand and attracts thousand of people both
residents and visitors to a period of prayer and meditation and abstaining
from eating meat.
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn said that the city
administrators and councilors would support the festival and related
activities with the intention that in forthcoming years it will attract
increased numbers of tourists.
This year the concept of the festival has been changed
from the Giant Vegetarian Pot of last year into the Giant “Palo”
Vegetarian Pot, and an additional highlight will be Supernatural
Fried Rice that it is hoped will bring increased prosperity to those who
participate in the ceremonies and partake of the special preparation.
The Chef Club of Pattaya has created special menus for
public tasting. There will also be a dragon parade and the council will
provide full budget support with the goal of the festival becoming a major
event for local and foreign tourists alike.
File
photos of the Vegetarian Festivities last year.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Central Region 3
have even sent details of the event to the TAT Central Bureau and have also
advertised abroad in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore in order to attract
more tourists to the festivities.
Pattaya police stated that they are ready to support this
event and maintain public safety during the festival.
The Chef Club announced that the menu on October 2 for
the Giant Palo Vegetarian Pot would use top quality ingredients
gathered by 30 hotel chefs to make 7,500 bowls of the delicacy for
distribution. The amount and weight of ingredients used will be calculated
so that the last digits will always be 9.
The Sawangboriboon Foundation requests the public who
wish to attend the festival to dress in white from October 2 to 12 to
demonstrate purity and cleanliness, as this is a highly revered spiritual
ceremony.
The October 2 parade will start from Bali Hai pier and
wend its way along Walking Street, then turn onto Second Road until it
reaches the traffic light on Second Road Central Pattaya.
The parade will end at the Telephone Communication
Department, but the participants can board transport that will take them to
the traffic light at Third Road South Pattaya. Here the parade will pass
through Wat Chaimongkol and end at the crossroads, where the participants
will once again board transportation.
Pattaya School No 3 is the third starting point, the parade passing along
Sawangfa Road to Naklua New Market, reaching the traffic light at the fork
in the road and finally ending at Lan Poh Public Park, where the
festival’s opening ceremony will be held.
British tourist robbed and injured
Boonlua
Chatree
 Is
this the way to make our guest feel welcome?
A 67-year old British man walking through Soi 6 in Central
Pattaya at 11:30 p.m. on the night of September 14 was attacked and injured
by three men who stole 7,000 baht and his mobile phone before fleeing in the
direction of Second Road.
James Mills told police he had been on his way to meet a friend at one of
the beer bars in Soi 2. He said he had been in Pattaya for about a week and
was staying at a hotel in Soi 20, on the Pattaya-Naklua Road. Mills said he
didn’t expect to be attacked in the city even though his friend had warned
him to steer clear of Soi 6. Police sent him to hospital for treatment.
Wife asks police to arrange autopsy after sudden death of Norwegian man
Boonlua
Chatree
The Thai wife of a Norwegian man who passed away
suddenly after returning from having medical treatment at hospital has
requested that the authorities carry out an autopsy on her husband’s
body.
Pattaya police station received a call during the
evening of September 22 from Mrs Saibua Thongta, age 37, who said she was
at a room she shared with her Norwegian husband at Plathong Flat, near
Pattaya Klang Road. She told the officer in charge that her husband had
died and she did not know the cause of death.
Officers arriving at the scene found the body of Bjoern
Jakobsen, age 46. He was lying on his back on the bed, wearing only red
shorts. The dead man’s wife was crying and hugging the body. The room
showed no signs of disturbance.
Saibua told police that she and her husband had been
legally married in Norway more than six years ago. Her husband regularly
came to visit her. He had arrived in Thailand on September 3 and was due to
fly back on September 30.
She said she had taken her husband to the hospital as he
was suffering from asthma. When they returned to their room her husband lay
down and suddenly began to have muscle spasms. She called the hospital for
help but it was too late.
Saibua asked the officers to arrange for a full autopsy, and the body
has been sent to Banglamung Hospital.
British man arrested for having sex with underage boys
Fortuneteller seized for acting as procurer
Boonlua Chatree
A British man was arrested for filming and performing
sexual acts with young boys and a Thai part-time fortuneteller has been
charged with acting as a procurer.
Pattaya Immigration Police raided a room in the Sopa
Apartment building in Soi Chalermprakiat, where they arrested British national
Andrew Nicholas, age 58, and seized videotapes and a video camera as evidence
of his sexual escapades with the children.
Police
Colonel Itthipol Itthisarnronachai (standing left) and other arresting police
observe as the underaged victims point to the two perperators.
The police also arrested and charged Prachuab Arun, manager
of the apartment block, who is alleged to have procured boys aged between 12
and 15 for sexual services to foreigners.
Police Colonel Itthipol Itthisarnronachai, superintendent
of Pattaya Immigration Police, said that Prachuab, who rents the rooms out for
300 baht, also works as a fortuneteller. He would ask foreigners renting his
rooms if they wanted boys for sexual services. The price was 500 baht and
Prachuab deducted 100 baht commission from each boy. Police say he got the
boys from the South Pattaya pier area where there are a lot of vagrant
children.
Three boys stated that Prachuab procured them from the pier
for Nicholas to perform sexual acts on them in his room. The boys were said to
have already serviced him a total of four times.
Police charged Prachuab with procuring boys under the age
of 15 for lewd conduct or forced human traffic. They charged Andrew Nicholas
with lewd conduct with boys under 15 either with or without their consent.
Nicholas will be deported from Thailand and blacklisted as an undesirable,
forbidden to re-enter the country.
Speeding car kills one motorcyclist and injures another in Sukhumvit crash
Boonlua Chatree
One man was killed and another seriously injured when a
speeding bar beer DJ crashed into two motorcycles on Sukhumvit Road and then
fled.
The accident happened at around 11 p.m. on September 15, at
the U-turn close to the traffic police box at Pattaya Moo 10. Police along with
an emergency unit rushed to the scene.
The officers found an injured youth lying in the middle of
the road next to a red Honda Wave motorcycle. He was identified as Wasan Mirud,
age 17. Wasan was losing a lot of blood, and was rushed to Banglamung Hospital.
The dead man was Decha Thakhamsom, age 40. He was lying in
the middle of the road but the force of the collision had hurled his red Honda
Sonic motorcycle to the other side of the highway. A license plate belonging to
a car was found next to the body.
Witnesses said that a white Honda Accord sedan car had hit
the two motorcycles and then sped off in the direction of Pattaya Klang
junction, where it was reported to have stopped about one kilometer from the
scene of the accident.
Police hurried to the junction where they found Khomsan
Yenklom, 25, sitting in his greatly damaged car. Blood was sprayed over the
front of the vehicle and a public-spirited citizen was watching over the driver
so that he did not escape. The car license number was the same as that on the
number plate found at the accident scene.
At Pattaya police station Khomsan said he worked as a DJ at a
beer bar in Soi 8. He had left home and was driving in the direction of Central
Pattaya, but couldn’t react in time to avoid the accident and therefore hit
the two motorcycles.
Khomsan said he had first class insurance for his car and he would take full
responsibility for the accident. He has been charged with careless driving
resulting in death and injury.
Residents fear return of killer
Boonlua Chatree
Residents of Jomtien Nivet Village, nervous after the
murder of an elderly German in a house there a few days previously, joined
police in searching the area after reports of another attempted
housebreaking.
Police and about 50 neighborhood volunteers searched the
village, which is off the Thappraya Road, on the evening of September 12
after Pattaya police station received a call saying a burglar had broken
into one of the houses again.
They searched for about two hours but were unable to
locate the intruder. Police searched the house, where the lights were on but
the owner was not in. A window at the back of the house was broken and there
was a 14-inch TV on the floor near the window. The thief had obviously tried
to take it but had been disturbed. He had left many fingerprints on the
window frame. Police copied them for a databank search.
Officers questioned the neighbors who said many burglaries had taken
place in the village but nobody had been arrested. About a week ago a German
was attacked and died from stab wounds after confronting a burglar in his
home. Residents fear a return of the same dangerous thief. They are now
considering setting up their own night patrol to protect themselves.
British man falls to his death
from 14th floor of hotel
Boonlua Chatree
A British man married to a Thai woman jumped to his
death from the 14 th floor
of a hotel in South Pattaya during the afternoon of September 22.
Officers from Pattaya police station along with
tourist police officers and the British consular attach้ for
Pattaya rushed to the scene after the hotel’s gardener reported that
someone had jumped and landed on a second floor overhang.
They found the body of British national Christopher
James Perry, aged 30 years. Hotel staff said that Perry had been
staying on the 14 th floor
of the building with his Thai wife. Entering the room, officers found
no signs of disturbance. On the bed was a packet of cigarettes and a
pair of glasses. The sliding door to the balcony was open. On the
balcony was a table, and there were six cigarette stubs on the floor.
Later on the dead man’s wife Mrs Prathum Perry,
age 23, returned to the room. She told police that during the morning
she and her husband had visited Naklua market and then returned to
their room. At 12:30 her husband was sleeping and she left to visit
her friend in Jomtien. When she returned she was greeted with the
terrible news that her husband had jumped to his death. She didn’t
know why her husband did such a thing.
The father of the dead man, 60-year-old Richard Perry, was staying
in a room on the same floor. He told police that his son had been
drunk every day since arriving in Thailand on September 19. They had
been due to fly back to England on September 26. He said he had
constantly warned his son about his drinking, and speculated that he
may have jumped whilst drunk or sat on the balcony ledge and fallen
off.
Australian bar owner arrested for selling impotency drug
Boonlua Chatree
Tourist police have arrested a Walking Street beer bar
owner for selling the impotency drug Kamagra.
 Cameron
James Radford from Australia detained by Pattaya Tourist police for engaging
in selling drugs without the relevant licenses.
Undercover officers using marked bank notes bought the
pills at the Shamrock Beer Bar at 1 a.m. last Friday morning. Cameron James
Radford, 52 from Australia was arrested in possession of the marked bank
notes and eight tablets of Kamagra, a cheaper copy of Viagra.
Radford admitted to buying the drug at a nearby pharmacy for 300 baht per
pack of four and selling it to his customers for 700 baht per pill. He was
charged with selling medicinal formulations without the appropriate license
and was remanded into custody pending a court appearance.
Democrat Party leader visits Pattaya on a whirlwind study tour
Listens to the hopes and concerns of the people
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Aphisit Vechachiva the Democratic Party Leader together
with deputy leader Alongkorn Phollabutr and members of his party traveled to
Pattaya, the stronghold of the Thai Rak Thai party to meet the city fathers
and administrators including citizens of Pattaya to get an insight as to the
feelings of the people in regards to the ruling government’s policies and
commitments that affect the lives of citizens, businesses, hotels and of
course the less fortunate.
Aphisit
Vechachiva, Democrat Party Leader pays his respects to King Taksin the Great
before he enters Pattaya City Hall.
A gathering was organized at city hall where members of
the community were given an opportunity to vent their hopes and frustrations
to the opposition party leader.
Bundarik Kusolvitya President of the Thai Hotels
Association Eastern Chapter informed the visiting delegation that the water
shortage in these parts was a real threat to the tourism and industrial
sector. “Our image has been tarnished’ she said. Because of the
inadequacies of our infrastructure, we are under attack from the foreign
press, which will eventually damage our prospects of maintaining our tourism
arrival figures.
‘We also have other problems regarding not sufficient
electricity and communications deficiencies which need to be addressed
urgently. We are not aware of any long-term plans made by the government,
which are so important for this business sector to plan our growth into the
future.’ She said.
Bundarik went on to say, ‘we want to improve our
prowess as a modern and self-sufficient community, with an infrastructure
that is solid enough to attract and receive larger groups that will come to
this region. We have recommended that the government build an international
convention center to attract large incentive groups. But so far these
suggestions have fallen on deaf ears. On the promotion side we have also
encouraged the government to play an active role together with the private
sector to help promote Pattaya and the eastern region to the world. We hope
that this will be a reality someday.’
Pattaya city council member, Phisai Phanomwan Na
Ayuthaya, chairman of the city tourism committee said there was no clear
policy on the operating hours of nightlife in the city. ‘This is a tourist
destination and tourists especially foreigners come here to have a good
time. I’m sure we can implement some special privileges for certain
entertainment venues to stay open longer to accommodate them. This will have
a huge positive effect on tourism to Pattaya.’
The representative from the Redemptorist School for the
disabled in Pattaya, Khun Mongkol Pornprathanvej said he and his friends
would like the opposition party to examine the promised projects to improve
roads and other types of transportation in the city and also at the New
Bangkok Airport so that consideration is also given to provide better access
and convenience for the physically challenged people.
Mongkol said that the physically challenged people fear
that their voice would not be heard and that all he is asking for is that
the handicapped people be afforded the same rights to convenience and basic
comforts as everyone else.
Before leaving Aphisit said the Democratic Party have a policy of meeting
the meeting at all levels of society and that he felt that the problems in
Pattaya have a lot to do with the infrastructure. He said that the
government should look closely at the needs of the people of Pattaya and set
aside appropriate budgets for each region, so that the people can plan for
the future and lay down some long-term plans for progress.
Deputy Mayor Wuttisak speaks out on key social problems
Key social problems of prostitution,
refugees and homeless children were brought up at a meeting chaired at the
Grand Sole Hotel by Deputy Mayor Wuttisak Rermkijakarn.
 Deputy
Mayor Wuttisak Rermkijakarn.
Social committee member Punnee Limjarern said that
Pattaya is a prime tourist location in Thailand, but the problems of
refugees, overpopulation, prostitution, vagrant children, crime and beggars
are severely damaging its image.
The problems have been very difficult to solve, as no
particular organization was willing to accept this huge responsibility.
Sixty organizations have weighed in to tackle the issues.
The Redemptorist School is will arrange programs to educate and improve the
life of the children in Pattaya. YWCA and the Rotary Clubs of Pattaya and
Jomtien-Pattaya are amongst the charitable organizations that have been
dedicatedly helping the city.
Pattaya Tourist Police have also joined in to help with
the problems. Several organizations are concentrating on working together to
eradicate the problem of teenage drug addiction and prostitution.
They have set up rehabilitation camps to help offenders
adjust and re-enter society.
“In this line of work, to help children, it has to come from your
heart. So when you decide to give a hand in this, expect that there will be
no big rewards for you,” Wuttisak said.
|
