Residents may want Pattaya to halt its latest beachfront redevelopment plan and divert the money to coronavirus relief, but the budgets are separate, and the funds cannot be reallocated, Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said.
The new, 166-million-baht landscaping and road-widening project begun Sunday is funded through the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor program, not the city’s budget. Moreover, the funds were approved last August and must be used only for that purpose and before Sept. 30. Any funds not spent this fiscal year would revert to the Finance Ministry, Sonthaya said.
The mayor acknowledged that nearly everyone in Pattaya is hurting economically from the Covid-19 pandemic and recession. He said the city is doing what it can to address those problems, including spending 88 million baht on 100,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and giving every family 2,000 baht cash.
But major infrastructure projects span years from planning to construction to completion. Their budgets cannot simply be switched mid-stream to something else, Sonthaya said.
Jidapa Sorong, treasurer for the Soi Khopai Community’s Village Fund, is one of those who doesn’t understand the government-budgeting system. She said she wanted to see the landscaping money spent on coronavirus relief, as she sees nearly all her South Pattaya neighbors in economic trouble.
As fund manager, she has had to grant residents a moratorium on debt repayment. But that also means the fund doesn’t have sufficient cash flow to operate as before, offering occupational training, anti-drug programs and more.
Here’s a thought – why not gather as many unemployed people as possible and put them to work on the project? The project gets done quicker, and the 166 million baht not only improves the landscape but also helps people affected by the pandemic.
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