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Sukhumvit Road
drainage system to finish before high season
Vimolrat Singnikorn
City officials plan the new drainage system on Sukhumvit
Road in South Pattaya will be at least partly in place before the rainy
season reaches its height. This, they hope, will make the highway’s
perennial flooding a thing of the past.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn said at a May 24 meeting
that the city has allocated 36 million baht toward the reinforced-concreted
drainage project, which consists of a new 2 x 2.5-meter culvert dug along
the highway between Sukhumvit 69 and 71, a site of major traffic problems
during heavy rain.
The concrete drainage culverts are being constructed for
650 meters along Sukhumvit Road in South Pattaya.
Construction currently calls for blocking two lanes of
traffic while work is being done, but the hope is that all work will be
finished for high season at the end of the year.
Other areas where the city is addressing flooding
problems are at Soi Lengkee, where pipes will direct water runoff down to
the sea, and at Huay Yai where a pipe is being connected to direct excess
water to the reservoir there.
Nongprue relents, agrees
to repair residents
wall damaged by backhoe
Nongprue
Municipality finally has agreed
to repair Wang Pleekhan’s collapsed wall.
Thanachot Anuwan
After initially disavowing responsibility, Nongprue
Municipality has agreed to repair a resident’s wall that was damaged when a
district backhoe collided with it.
Wang Pleekhan filed a complaint with Nongprue officials
after a backhoe sent to repair a damaged section of Soi Khao Talo at Soi 10
smashed into a wall he built on his property line. The wall collapsed onto
his house causing property damage.
Wang said when he initially complained a district worker
told him that his construction technique was just as responsible for the
wall’s collapse as was the backhoe; an assertion the resident disagreed with
since the wall had been standing undamaged for some time. He said he later
contacted the Nongprue construction department and found the road work
didn’t even have an official budget and, he assumed, was done improperly.
Unsatisfied with his local government’s response, Wang
contacted the Pattaya Mail, which queried Nongprue Mayor Mai
Chaiyanit May 25. Mai then sent several top Nongprue bureaucrats to examine
the damaged 20 m. section of wall and the road work. He also urged Wang to
file a proper written claim, rather than just by telephone.
After a review, city workers estimated the wall could be
repaired within two weeks.
Mai emphasized that the district government was there to
solve problems, not create them, but also said residents who have problems
need to file claims and complaints through the proper channels.
Beach Road Pattaya to feature Grand Sale this weekend
700+ booths to stretch from Dusit to Walking Street
More than 600 Bangkok businesses impacted by last month’s
deadly riots will reach out to Pattaya for help this weekend as the Commerce
Ministry sponsors the “Together We Can Grande Sale.”
Together We Can Grande Sale comes to Pattaya this
weekend.
More than 700 booths will be set up along Beach Road
Saturday and Sunday, June 5 & 6, from the Dusit Thani Hotel down to the top
of Walking Street. One lane of Beach Road will be closed to traffic for the
weekend event
The shopping spree starts at 10 a.m. and lasts until
midnight.
Vendors will comprise of Pattaya business people and
vendors who were adversely affected by the demonstrations and violence in
Rajprasong, Pratunam, the Victory Monument and the Silom Road areas in
Bangkok.
More than 200,000 people are expected to flock to the
booths lining Beach Road end-to-end, both getting great deals of up to 80
percent off normal prices while also assisting vendors who lost their
livelihoods in fires that destroyed Central World and other Bangkok shopping
centers.
This weekend’s Grande Sale follows a three-day fare held
May 28-29 in the Silom area of Bangkok - ground zero for the “red shirt”
riots - that brought in more than 1650 vendors and raised an estimated 140
million baht. Revenues for the two-day Pattaya sale are predicted to top 100
million baht.
The Commerce Ministry requesting a budget of 300 million
baht to organize more of these fairs to assist the hard-hit businesspeople.
Other provinces on the agenda include Nakorn Sawan,
Nonthaburi, Mukdahan, Nong Khai and Mae Sot.
While the sale will directly benefit Bangkok vendors,
it’s also expected to boost Pattaya’s economy. Thai tourists are a key part
of the city and national government’s plans to shore up the tourism trade
until foreign visitors feel safe enough again to return to Thailand.
R.S. Entertainment will also bring in entertainers to
liven up the atmosphere.
Research project aims to get competing businesses to work together
to promote tourism
Phasakorn Channgam
Pattaya is hoping to spur tourism by getting the city’s
many small and medium-sized businesses to work together, rather than against
each other.
Burapha University Assistant Professor Wutthichat
Sunthornsamai heads the research project.
Working with Burapha University on a nationally funded
tourism-research project, Pattaya City Hall, the Thai Hotel Association
Eastern Chapter, Pattaya Business & Tourism Association, and Tourism
Authority of Thailand want to set up clusters of related businesses to
promote the tourism industry and jointly lobby the government for
assistance.
At a May 25 meeting, Assistant Professor Wutthichat
Sunthornsamai said six clusters have been organized, grouping companies in
the hotel, restaurant, tour guide, transport, spa / massage and souvenir
sectors.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay noted attempts have been
made before to organize associations of local small businesses, but they all
failed due to business owners not trusting each other and putting individual
competition ahead of joint promotion.
He noted, however, that working together can bring
benefits to the city in terms of getting government support and bargaining
with state enterprises for concessions.
More work needs to be done to organize the study and
layout the ground rules, but the project is off to a promising start, he
said.
Commerce Ministry official
reassures Laem Chabang traders
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Polabut visits
Laem Chabang
port to reassure importers and exporters that political
unrest
will not affect Thailand’s international trade.
Theerarak
Suthathiwong
A top Commerce Ministry official visited Laem Chabang
Port to reassure importers and exporters that political unrest that led
the recent blockage of the harbor will not affect Thailand’s
international trade industry.
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Polabut used the
May 22 public hearing to discuss problems impacting port users and hear
concerns importers and exporters had about the protest by the so-called
“red shirts,” who blocked the Laem Chabang Port entrance for several
days last month.
Alongkorn noted that while the protests were
worrying, they had no material effect on the flow of cargo through the
port and, in fact, the harbor was exempted from the 10-day nighttime
curfew imposed on Bangkok and 23 other provinces. Operators were then
able to enter and exit the harbor 24 hours a day.
Laem Chabang handles about 7,600 ships and 44 million
metric tons of cargo in five million containers a year. Its budget was
increased 15 percent in the past six months and has seen 20 percent
growth. It is Thailand’s largest seaport and the fourth busiest in Asia.
The deputy minister assured traders that the
government plans to take good care of ships entering and leaving the
port, developing new destinations for exports and facilitating landside
transport of cargo.
Curious kitty gets stuck
in water pipe for 3 days
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Curiosity nearly did kill a cat that got stuck in a
water-drainage pipe for three days.
Sawang Boriboon Foundation rescuers were called to the
Suksawang Laundry on Soi 17 in South Pattaya May 21 after owner Supat
Chansri called to report that her partially handicapped kitten “Nang Mork”
was stuck in a pipe.
After a 3-day ordeal, a tired, hungry Nang Mork was
finally freed from the drainage pipe that had become its prison.
Supat said she’d found the kitten about three months ago.
Its hind limbs were disabled and it could only pull itself along using its
front two paws. Under her care, the cat had gotten strong and could now walk
with the front paws and drag itself around.
Apparently the curious young feline dragged itself into a
drainage pipe covered with steel and concrete. Rescuers did not have tools
long enough to extract the cat and had to call on Pattaya city workers to
remove the cover.
About an hour later, the cover came off and a tired,
hungry Nang Mork was back in the care of Supat, who promised to keep a
closer eye on her curious kitty.
Deputy mayor pledges help
for water-soaked Pattaya soi
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn has pledged to solve
flooding problems that have plagued Soi “Big Tree” behind Bangkok Hospital
Pattaya for several years.
Saranporn Termsakulwong, 37, living in the soi pleads for
help.
Wutisak and Pattaya City Council members toured Soi Non
Mai Yai and neighboring streets May 25 to hear residents’ complaints about
flooding and water damage to their homes. Saranporn Termsakulwong, 37, said
each year she and her neighbors have to stack sand bags in front of their
homes to prevent storm water running down the steep, narrow soi into their
homes.
Residents have asked for action from the city before
rainy season sets in this month. Each time it rains, water up to 50 cm.
pools at the bottom of the soi where it remains for days.
Wutisak said he would convene a meeting to allocate a
budget to dig wells to catch the water as it streamed down the soi. And, in
the interim, the city would dispatch pumps to the street if flooding occurs.
Nong Plalai residents oppose ammunition factory project
Boonlua Chatree
More than 200 Nong Plalai residents turned out at a
public hearing to oppose plans for an ammunition factory and shooting range
to be constructed in the sub-district.
Job Bunkor, head of the Nong Plalai villages association,
led 209 opponents of the proposal by Royal Ammunition Co. to the May 20
meeting at the sub-district’s offices. He said Nong Plalai is zoned to be a
tourist-promotion area focused on nature. As such, it’s inappropriate to
build a factory in the area, he said.
Job called on the company and city officials to recheck
zoning rules and permissions for the project.
Royal Ammunition is trying to relocate to the Pattaya
area from Nakhon Sawan to be closer to Laem Chabang Port. The company has
already taken several steps toward getting approval for the factory on
vacant land near the Tonkrarok Temple but local officials determined a
public hearing was still necessary.
Only 48 of the almost 300 people at the hearing were in
favor of the factory and shooting range. The company said it is now
considering the community reaction before moving forward.
Koh Larn mulls expanding desalination plant
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Koh Larn is considering expanding its desalination plant
to increase water supplies on the island, which is now using nearly double
the available water.
Pattaya Sea Water Supply Project engineer Phitsanu
Yothinsirithong said Koh Larn is now using between 500 and 600 cu. m. of
water per day. The reverse-osmosis desalination facility opened by East
Water Resource Development and Management Co. in 2007 only provides 300 cu.
m. of water per day.
Phitsanu Yothinsirithong, engineer with the Pattaya Sea
Water Supply Project, talks about increasing the water supply on Koh Larn.
Water shortages are now common at Na Ban, Tonglang and
Tawan beaches, although the island has been able to use desalinated and rain
water stored in tanks during shortfalls. Still, Phitsanu said, a more
permanent solution is needed.
Before a decision to purchase additional expensive
desalination equipment is made, the exact amount of water actually being
used, not stockpiled, is needed. Once the survey is done, the island can go
about purchasing more machines, which cost up to 20 million baht each.
Koh Larn residents and businesses welcomed the news,
noting the island’s growing popularity has required hotels and others to
supply their own water and electricity to meet demand.
Pattaya to host international fireworks competition
Phasakorn Channgam
Pattaya will host the second round of the Ministry of
Defense’s two-year international fireworks competition to honor Their
Majesties the King and Queen Aug. 14.
Rattanachai Sutidechanai, chairman of the Pattaya City
Council’s Tourism and Sports Committee.
The competition, which began on HM the King’s Dec. 5
birthday in 2009, will conclude on the same date in 2011. Before the grand
finale, the ministry is staging five rounds of competition around the
country. The first was Dec. 13 in Thongthani. The second round will be in
Pattaya.
Pattaya City Council member and head of the Tourism and
Sports Committee Rattanachai Sutidechanai told the Pattaya Business &
Tourism Association May 19 that as many as 15 countries will participate in
the competition. The top winners of each round will then take part in the
Dec. 5, 2011 finale in a city yet to be decided.
In addition to the fireworks display, the Pattaya show
will also feature a parade of floating lamps to honor the royal couple and
bring a bit of extravagance to Pattaya Beach.
Two ex-Rayong sub-district officials arrested on weapons charges
Thanarat Khummont and Daorung Chansa
have been arrested
on weapons charges.
Boonlua Chatree
Two former Rayong sub-district officials were arrested on
illegal weapons charges after Pattaya police discovered two loaded handguns
in their car at a Naklua checkpoint.
Police stationed near Soi 16 and Naklua Road around 1
a.m. May 24 pulled over a gray Honda Jazz with five men inside. Searching
the car, officers found two bags, each containing a .38-caliber pistol and
bullets.
All five were taken into custody and transferred to
Pattaya Police Station. During interrogation it was discovered the handguns
belonged to two of the passengers, Thanarat Khummont, 44, and Daorung Chansa,
40, both former councilmen for the Makhamkhu sub-district in Nikhom Pattana,
Rayong.
The two said they’d recently lost their re-election
campaigns and had nothing to do. So they and some friends, after playing
sports, decided to head to Pattaya for an evening on the town.
The two were charged with possession of firearms and
transporting them inside a residential area.
Nerves give away fake drug dealers’ secret
Boonlua Chatree
Two men who allegedly were selling fake drugs on Pattaya
Beach nearly got away with it until their nervous demeanor gave away their
secret.
Prapas Thongkam, 30, and Sapard Sararam, 38, were spotted
by police suspiciously ducking into a convenience store around 4 a.m. May
19. Officers searched the two, but found only counterfeit marijuana which
they allegedly had been selling to tourists.
Prapas Thongkam and Sapard Sararam were arrested after
police found them to be in possession of drugs.
As they technically weren’t breaking the law, the two
Issan natives might have been free to go. But they acted shifty and
uncomfortable while being searched, which only made police more suspicious.
Police decided to take the men back to Pattaya Police Station for more
questioning and as they did, Sapard allegedly dropped a handkerchief inside
which officers found five packets of genuine marijuana.
The pair admitted they let tourists see and smell the
real ganja before selling them fake weed.
This, in turn, prompted a more thorough search and
investigators found four ecstasy tablets, five tubes of ya ice, and four
straws of a white powder in his shoe.
The pair further confessed they didn’t make enough money
from selling counterfeit marijuana, so they had turned to illegal drug
sales. Both are now facing narcotics charges.
Massage-seeking Iranians robbed by ladyboy, recover some lost funds
Boonlua Chatree
Three Iranian men who hired a transvestite for a massage
and instead had their pockets picked tracked down the light-fingered masseur
and got most of their money back.
Police interrogate Tosaporn Pongphet for allegedly
stealing money from 3 Iranian tourists.
Mahdi Rashidi, 30, Mansour Baghery, 32, and Mahdi Daiyan,
33, told police May 22 that they’d befriended 17-year-old Tosaporn Pongphet
on Beach Road and agreed to have the ladyboy provide a massage at a Soi
Yamoto short-stay hotel. The three men undressed and went to the restroom.
When they did, Tosaporn allegedly stole $300 (about 9,00 baht) from their
wallets and fled.
After they realized what had happened, the Iranians
tracked down the kateoy and escorted him to Pattaya Police Station. They
said they didn’t want to press charges and only wanted their money returned.
The ladyboy, however, said he’d taken only the equivalent of about 4,000.
Tosaporn, however, offered to repay 6,000 baht to the
Iranians if they didn’t seek further action.
Fake bomb sets off excitement, nothing else
Theerarak Suthathiwong
A firecracker disguised as a bomb created a bit of
excitement, but no damage, near the railroad tracks on Soi Chaiyapruek 2.
It looks like a possible explosive devise, but turns out
its just a few party poppers taped together.
Police and Royal Thai Navy explosives experts were called
to the scene May 25 after reports of an object wrapped in tape with wires
protruding from it being found. Authorities arrived to find a crowd gathered
around the device and cordoned off the area.
Upon inspection, however, the ‘bomb” turned out to be a
common firecracker like those used at parties. Police speculated local
teenagers had dressed it up as a bomb and left it near the railway tracks as
a prank.
Police toss Pattaya Remand Prison, recover 50 homemade knives
Some of the 50 homemade knives police recovered
in a
recent search of Pattaya Remand Prison.
Boonlua Chatree
More than 200 Banglamung police and volunteers recovered
more than 50 “shivs” in a cleanup of Pattaya Remand Prison.
No drugs were recovered in the May 26 raid, although
police said cigarettes and lighters were taken, along with the 50 sharpened
pieces of metal that could be used as knives. The crackdown came nine months
after a major sweep of the prison in September. That raid, the first in
eight years, saw the seizure of 500 shivs and drug paraphernalia.
Pattaya Remand currently houses 2,100 inmates - 1,800 men
and 300 women - in a 47 facility built to house only 1,084 people. Most of
the offenders are there on drug and theft-related convictions, but are left
largely free to wander the facility.
4 ‘red shirt’ teens arrested for
violating curfew, throwing firecracker
Patcharapol Panrak
Four teenagers dressed like “red shirt” anti-government
demonstrators were arrested for breaking the military-imposed curfew and
throwing a large firecracker in Sattahip.
Police surround and apprehend the teens after curfew in
Sattahip.
The 16-year-old boys wearing red shirts and bandanas were
caught by Royal Thai Navy security officers in the early hours of May 22 at
Prince Chumphon Park. Officials suspected the four were the same group that
caused a panic at the Sattahip Market earlier when a loud firecracker went
off there.
With arson and bombings still raging across Bangkok, navy
officials were not taking any chances with the young red-shirt sympathizers
and sent an explosives team to the reservoir near the park where the
officers saw the boys throw something away. No traces of any bomb were
found, but the remnants of the firecracker and the teens were taken to
Sattahip Police Station for questioning.
The teens denied any involvement with the Sattahip Market
incident and said they were only playing with the firecracker for fun. The
boys’ parents were called and the youths were taken home, as the Sattahip
area was still under a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
Navy continues ‘hearts and minds’ campaign with southern youths
Youngsters from
Thailand’s restive south visit the Royal Thai Marine Corps Museum at Prince
Chumphon Park in Sattahip.
Patcharapol Panrak
As separatists continue their campaign of violence in
Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south, the Royal Thai Navy continues to face it
by winning the hearts and minds of the region’s youth.
The Royal Thai Marine Corps welcomed 35 southern
youngsters to the Marine Corps’ museum at Prince Chumphon Park in Sattahip
May 25 as part of the Navy’s “Thai Re-Unity Project”. The program aims to
introduce the young southerners to other lifestyles, particularly that of
the armed forces.
Deputy Marine Corps Commander Rear Adm. Pongsak Phuriroj
greeted the students and started their re-education with a lecture on the
“mariner’s mission” of protecting the security and sovereignty of the Thai
nation.
Capt Banpot Kerdphu, deputy director-general for the
Naval Civil Affairs Department said the field trip is intended to “open
their eyes and ears to the lives of Thai people in other parts of the
country and learn their perspectives.” He said the ultimate goal was for the
youth to see they can live in peace among diverse religions and cultures
under the same nationality and monarchy.
Pongsak said the trip was a good occasion to teach the
youth about the navy’s activities and contributions to the country. It also
helps instill discipline and respect in the youngsters.
A separatist insurgency movement began in the 1970s but
flared again in 2004 in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces. Since then
more than 3,000 people have been killed.
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