Pattaya: Beautification of Beach Road may be illegal - permission not sought amid encroachment fears

[webfact]

Picture: Manager

 

Plans to beautify a 2.7 kilometer stretch of Beach Road in Pattaya from North to South have been thrown into utter confusion.

 

Not only have environmentalists slammed the uprooting of trees now the Marine Department is saying aspects of the 116 million baht development could be illegal.

 

Following meetings between the Marine Department, City Hall and the contractor Nong Nooch Land and Gardens work has been ordered to stop temporarily.

 

Main problem is the expansion of the footpath and road area by 5-6 meters.

 

Picture: Manager

 

This could constitute encroachment on beach land. Besides the proper permission for the work has not been sought.

 

This could be a major setback for Pattaya's mayor, hardman Sontaya Kunplome who wants his resort to be manicured like Miami. 

 

Ekkarat Khantharo of the Marine Department told Manager that they fear erosion problems as well.

 

This comes after the department spent 430 million baht on expanding the sands from just a few meters to 35 meters wide. 

 

They don't want the good work done by them to be wasted by the current beautification work.

 

They accept that it is part of the Eastern Economic Corridor master plan but everything must be done according to the law hence the temporary halt. 

 

Manager called it big trouble for Pattaya. The story comes as environmentalists and arborists slammed the mayor for cutting down 50 year old "heritage trees" to make way for flimsy palms that will be less effective and more trouble. 

 

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[Will B Good]

You couldn't write this stuff.

[johng]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

Manager called it big trouble for Pattaya.

Big Trouble in Little China ????

[bdenner]

Aint rocket science, just push the sand back toward the water front and reclaim the land from the ocean/sea/gulf or what ever it is down there.

It is a world wide trend!

Palm trees can be replanted with their bulb root structure.

Edited August 26, 2021 by bdenner

[newnative]

   Neither the road nor the promenade needs to be wider.  Both have been widened already and they are plenty wide.  Pity no authorities stepped in and halted things before all the damage was done.  Maybe someone with a brain will step in and demand some shade trees be planted.  

[RobU]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Ekkarat Khantharo of the Marine Department told Manager that they fear erosion problems as well.

 

This comes after the department spent 430 million baht on expanding the sands from just a few meters to 35 meters wide. 

 

They don't want the good work done by them to be wasted by the current beautification work.

Interesting that no consultation seems to be have made with the Marine Department in the planning and implementation of this project when they obviously have an interest in this after expending 430 million Baht to expand the beach. Toytown planners in action creating a new project that will, as  usual, never be maintained after it is finished

[petermik]

8 hours ago, newnative said:

    Maybe someone with a brain will step in and demand some shade trees be planted.  

I doubt they would consult with farangs in this project....

[Golden Triangle]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

This could constitute encroachment on beach land. Besides the proper permission for the work has not been sought.

Shame they don't show the same zeal for those places on the ocean side of walking street, bizarre really.

[chalawaan]

Somebody needed a new supercar. Can't have a young drug warrior copper upstaging the fatcats in City Hall.

[Harsh Jones]

Judging by this picture , I don't think widening it is a particularly bad idea. Its a little narrow when you have walking traffic going both ways. Now there can be a proper bike lane as well.

 

And there's some room for kiosks and stuff when there is a festival going on.

 

[Andycoops]

What a shambles as nearly everything that city hall does usually is.

Dimwits.

[Kerryd]

Didn't get proper permission and possibly encroaching on public land.

Lol - from the same city gov't that not long ago was demolishing private buildings after they accused the owner of those buildings of encroaching on the same kind of public land (just a little further up the coast).
Just a wee bit of hypocrisy there.

What was the plan ? Spend hundreds of millions on the project, then sue (themselves) for encroachment, then release more contracts to tear up the bits that are on "public" land ?
 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

What was the plan ? Spend hundreds of millions on the project, then sue (themselves) for encroachment, then release more contracts to tear up the bits that are on "public" land ?

Perhaps take a leaf from The Waterfront experience. Spend loads and get it half ripped up and derelict, then suspend it and leave it that way for 8 years as an eyesore and testament to their ineptitude. 

[Gsxrnz]

I've been reliably informed that the official "town planner" in Patts is 9 years old and his tools consist of two six inch rulers (formerly a one footer but it broke) , a blunt 4B pencil stub, a 210 piece set of leggo, and one of those city street playmats of Miami.  

 

That's where the Miami idea came from.  We should be thankful it wasn't a street playmat of Venice. Oh wait........

[mokwit]

This is all so that contracts can be awarded.

[elgenon]

3 hours ago, Harsh Jones said:

Judging by this picture , I don't think widening it is a particularly bad idea. Its a little narrow when you have walking traffic going both ways. Now there can be a proper bike lane as well.

 

And there's some room for kiosks and stuff when there is a festival going on.

 

I thought the sand keeps getting washed away and they have spent big money replenishing it.. So if the beach is smaller......

 

So the idea is make the beach smaller and make the walking area inhospitable for relaxing and enjoying the view? Sounds like a draw for rich tourists to me.

 

I still don't understand what the local government expects the tourist draw to be. In Miami they have a crazy night life. But Pattaya wants a boring, sanitized walking street. Please somebody explain the plan to draw tourists to me.

 

 

[mikebell]

The plan is: form a committee; bring in expert consultants; pay them all exorbitant fees; then abandon the project unfinished and drive off in their new Mercs.

[redwood1]

Honestly this is what I would like to see happen to every last one of those bloody Palm trees (chop).......And I am a tree lover too...

 

[redwood1]

18 hours ago, newnative said:

   Neither the road nor the promenade needs to be wider.  Both have been widened already and they are plenty wide.  Pity no authorities stepped in and halted things before all the damage was done.  Maybe someone with a brain will step in and demand some shade trees be planted.  

Beach road is already 4 yes I said 4 lanes wide, 3 driving lanes and one parking lane...

[Grusa]

22 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Honestly this is what I would like to see happen to every last one of those bloody Palm trees (chop).......And I am a tree lover too...

 

That ain't no palm tree!

[redwood1]

1 hour ago, Grusa said:

That ain't no palm tree!

Who said it was a Palm tree?.......I said this is what should happen to every last stinking Palm tree on the beach....

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Kerryd said:

What was the plan ? Spend hundreds of millions on the project,

Second sentence IMO WAS the plan. That's how it normally works, IMO.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, elgenon said:

But Pattaya wants a boring, sanitized walking street. Please somebody explain the plan to draw tourists to me.

Singapore became boring and sanitised, but attracted rich tourists. It's possible, but Thailand has a few things that make it unlikely to succeed using the Singapore strategy.

[kimamey]

11 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

I've been reliably informed that the official "town planner" in Patts is 9 years old and his tools consist of two six inch rulers (formerly a one footer but it broke) , a blunt 4B pencil stub, a 210 piece set of leggo, and one of those city street playmats of Miami.  

 

That's where the Miami idea came from.  We should be thankful it wasn't a street playmat of Venice. Oh wait........

The trouble is they use metric measurements here not imperial. Mind you that does mean another expensive contract to put it right afterwards.  ????????????????

[Stargeezr]

So considering the back ground of the Mayor of Pattaya, is anyone surprised of why there have been no permits

etc, on many developments in Pattaya or area?  I could be wrong, but back ground checks may uncover

some of the reasons.

Geezer

[morrobay]

23 hours ago, mokwit said:

This is all so that contracts can be awarded.

Unnecessary widening kickback projects that include unnecessary kickback parking lots like the disaster at Naklua seafood market. As well as that bs parking lot at Jomtien North end that never has cars there. That was before a nice sandy area with large shade trees. How much longer can these people keep getting away with taking the environment to ruin. There's a reason they want the oblivious chinese tourism. Because that's about all they are going to get- hopefully. Well these folks on here that keep saying " if you don't like it leave" starting to sound more credible every day.

[redwood1]

33 minutes ago, morrobay said:

Unnecessary widening kickback projects that include unnecessary kickback parking lots like the disaster at Naklua seafood market. As well as that bs parking lot at Jomtien North end that never has cars there. That was before a nice sandy area with large shade trees. How much longer can these people keep getting away with taking the environment to ruin. There's a reason they want the oblivious chinese tourism. Because that's about all they are going to get- hopefully. Well these folks on here that keep saying " if you don't like it leave" starting to sound more credible every day.

The new Neo-Pattaya is a treeless (except Palm trees) parkless, natureless, artless  concrete and steel paradise with lots cctv cameras and plenty of blue parking lots......Were getting closer to the dream every day......

Edited August 28, 2021 by redwood1

[Gsxrnz]

12 hours ago, kimamey said:

The trouble is they use metric measurements here not imperial. Mind you that does mean another expensive contract to put it right afterwards.  ????????????????

Tell me about it, but somehow describing a 15cm ruler just doesn't carry the same weight as the proverbial 6 inches.

[Nojohndoe]

On 8/27/2021 at 4:47 AM, Harsh Jones said:

Judging by this picture , I don't think widening it is a particularly bad idea. Its a little narrow when you have walking traffic going both ways. Now there can be a proper bike lane as well.

 

And there's some room for kiosks and stuff when there is a festival going on.

 

Kiosks for when festivals are on? Any place kiosks are plonked they tend to stay ! And their immediate surrounds drenched in waste liquids and oils etc. Refuse bins populated by cockroaches and rats. All permitted by some official who collects payment for the priviledge. 6 months on from completion the gloss will have been buried.

[Mr Meeseeks]

If I managed anything this badly I would be instantly dismissed, and probably sued through the civil or criminal courts for something or other.

 

But then, I am not a hardman or a mafioso.