Rayong Beach Project Under Question

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Rayong beach project under question

The Nation

A fact-finding panel should investigate the project of developing Rayong's Mae Rumphueng Beach, which had been approved by Royal Forest Department (RFD) chief Suwit Rattanamanee in September 2010.

Damrong Phidej, chief of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (NPWPCD), said yesterday that the beach is reportedly covered with up to 30 fishermen's homes and shop houses as well as septic tanks.

Following a recent inspection of the project meant for sustainable tourism, Damrong said the project was reportedly 80-per-cent complete yet there were many buildings impinging on the area.

The project is jointly organised by the Rayong public works and city-planning office as well as the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park. He said permanent buildings occupied 11 kilometres of the beach's 12-km area, even though the public park space should be open for walking.

Initial investigation found that Suwit had approved the project, which had been granted Bt120 million under the Thai Khemkhaeng project and Bt13 million from Rayong authorities, he said.

Damrong said Suwit's action had puzzled him because he had allowed people to violate the law by allowing them to use public space to build on. He said that this is the reason why he had asked the Rayong provincial administrative organisation to bring the project to a halt and told a fact-finding committee led by department inspector-general Thiti Kanokthaweekan to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, Suwit said he had approved the project because local bodies had previously okayed it, though he did admit that he should have read the project plan in detail. He said that he would accept the investigation result, and that if the buildings were found to be illegal the park department had the authority to demolish them.

Arkhom Namkham, Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park chief, said the project had been approved before his time but he believed the provincial authorities and the department intended to solve the encroachment problem. Hence, the Mae Rumphueng Beach Committee was set up and that the landscape-improving project was nearly 80-per-cent complete with just 10 fishermens' houses and 20 shops left to build. However, he said he was afraid that the structures would support only 50 per cent of the residents and that having permanent structures on the beach could lead to other developments being built, which would affect the beach management.

An informed source reported that the project aimed to build 41 restaurants plus an activity plaza and toilets, 30 fishery houses and 89 shops renting beach lounges.

-- The Nation 2012-01-11

[visions]

Its ok to stop the project now......cuz all the graft payments are paid out already!!

[maxtingtong]

I passed from there just yesterday. The buildings are nearly ready, and aren't 3 floors resort or big things, just decent wooden structures. Actually that area of the beach is mostly desert, looks like a ghost town. I think destroying it is a big waste of money, could only help some development over there, that's really needed. And what they say about Rayong Resort instead? Is it huge and built on the most nice beach in the middle of the national park. Can't believe someone approved it.

[osiboy]

unbelievable , building on such a lovely beach,...... old school tie and funny handshakes , .........should never have been approved

[xthAi76s]

it is an ugly place. I had to stay there while the flooding sorted out. overbuilt, in typical thai fashion nowhere to walk, thais seem to be OK leaving around trash and debris on the beach everyday/night, cars speeding at very unsafe speeds down the beach road which people must cross (at their own risk) to get to the beach. very pathetic place indeed. I hope they can do alot better, but if it's 80 percent done, they obviously don't really know how to make actually 1) SAFE and 2) nice and pretty.

Even the trees on the beach are wrong -- not sure if they naturally grow there, but it gets super hot (as we all know), and the trees are pines which provide very little shade. They need to plant broad leaved trees so that you can actually sit out there in the daytime. They def need some help and whoever is in charge of the project should visit some nice beaches outside of that area (or perhaps even outside the country) to see what things typically go into developing a public beach front. I mean, certainly a f**kin place to walk safely (instead of along the road with speeding cars/trucks and bikes) would tend to be pretty standard.

Edited January 11, 2012 by ThailandMan

[xthAi76s]

I don't want to bash Thais in this case, but for the things they are good at, they are terrible at designing spaces with people in mind. Nothing done for comfort or safety. In the city like Bangkok, I suppose I can understand but when you goto a beach, you expect (if you are from a first world country, perhaps, if that's fair) that you'll have a safe place to walk along the beach and a safe place to access the beach from your hotel/resort/etc. They can't seem to figure these kinds of things out here which is strange.

Oh, the food was pretty terrible, too. Overpriced, poor selection and poorly made at almost every place we went to along the beach.

People were actually nice, but almost everything else was really terrible.

[Foxglove]

I walk my dog along this beach every day and have watched these "buildings" grow up.

The fishermen's houses are badly designed. The floors are already beginning to bow due to incorrect sizing of the wooden beams. Can't see them lasting more than 3 years, if they don't collapse under their own weight then the termites will do it for them.

The ugly concrete restuarant structures, unfortunately, won't fall down.

Cannot understand why permission was given to build. If I did not know better I would think that corruption was involved but we all know that that is against the law.