The No. 1 issue on many
people’s lists - flooding - ranks almost as high on Mayor Itthiphol’s. He
repeated a familiar refrain from the past four years, saying the city needs
more pumps and needs to clear blocked drainage canals.
Thanachot Anuwan
Mayor-elect Itthiphol Kunplome laid out 14 policies he
plans to tackle over the next four years, covering everything from public
utilities and education to communications, parks and landscaping.
Itthiphol, who will take office once the Election
Commission of Thailand certifies the June 17 poll later this month, said
things will be done “differently” in his second term, although most of the
priorities on his list were started and left unfinished after his first
four-year stint as mayor.
Topping the mayor-elects list is the elimination of all
dirt roads in Pattaya. The city earlier identified 160 streets to pave and
about 80 percent were completed. The mayor pledged city road workers
wouldn’t simply slap asphalt over the payment, but also dig new drainage
pipes below the thoroughfares. Work would not be complete until sometime
next year.
The mayor-elect’s second priority is the city’s waste
treatment problems. The Public Health and Environment Department’s landfill
in Khao Maikaew needs expansion, as well as additional equipment to better
filter out recyclables and garbage that could be used in a waste-to-energy
or biogas plant. Studies on both types of power-generation plants have been
underway for more than a year.
On education, Itthiphol said he hopes to improve
foreign-language studies, with schools teaching not only English, but
Russian and Chinese as well. Buildings at many schools also need to be
enlarged, most likely by adding additional floors to existing structures.
His plan also calls for standardizing curriculums between
schools with rural schools focusing on agriculture and farming; those near
temples offering a religious concentration, and urban schools increasing
computer and technology studies.
Also, in order to improve the social environment and
safety in schools, each institution will form clubs promoting sports and
music, and parent associations to keep families more involved in the
education process, he said.
The mayor-elect also wants to get the Pattaya Tourism
Technological Institute and city Youth Center, already approved by the city
council, up and running to increase educational opportunities for older
children.
Water distribution and treatment remains a high priority
for the incoming mayor, with his fourth policy calling for completion of the
proposed second water-treatment plant in Jomtien Beach and new pipelines to
the Mapwaisom and Huay Khainao reservoirs.
The No. 1 issue on many people’s lists - flooding - ranks
almost as high on Itthiphol’s. He repeated a familiar refrain from the past
four years, saying the city needs more pumps and needs to clear blocked
drainage canals. He also wants to dig a 12. 7 million baht emergency
pipeline to be opened only during heavy rainfall to move water from East
Pattaya to South Pattaya.
Related to this is the expansion of the Kaemling
reservoir, which can store storm runoff to be re-used later. The mayor-elect
complained that private businesses have hampered Kaemling’s pipeline system
by digging their own canals to divert water to private farmland and
businesses. He pledged to work with government agencies to make the system
more efficient.
