Bali Hai repairs begin amid threats against careless boat captains

PATTAYA:--Pattaya has begun repair cracks and broken edges of the Bali Hai Pier approach bridge and is vowing legal action against careless boat captains who damaged it.

Councilman Sanit Boonmachai, who is also head the Pattaya Tour Boat Operator Club, called on the city July 17 to begin repairs immediately on the jetty and said that gaps and cracks could pose hazards to the more than 1,000 tourists who use the South Pattaya pier daily.

The city then assigned the Engineering Department to begin work, using funds from the landscape-development budget to compete the job. Repairs are slated to take 90 days.

The patch job is a smaller project than the complete refurbishment of the bridge that officials said is actually needed. Rebuilding of the 4,600-sq.-meter approach was estimated to cost 50 million baht and the city lacks funds for it.

Sanit said the damage to the pier bridge has been caused by careless boat captains ramming the jetty. He said more policing of boat movements was needed so that compensation can be exacted from boat operators who damage city property.

- See more at: http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/bali-hai-repairs-begin-amid-threats-against-careless-boat-captains-49474#sthash.KRmFTcMG.dpuf

-- Pattaya Mail 2015-07-31

Make a fishing boat captain pay damages?????....Good luck with that!!

"Patch-job" ?? Will be a "Botch-job".

More Policing... Heck, there are millions of Thais everyday driving the roads recklesslly, disregarding the rules and they want to enforce more Policing of boats ramming the Pier...???

The problem is that the captain needs two hands to control the throttle and the wheel.

Rather difficult with a cell phone in one hand and a Chang in the other.

EDIT: For clarification I wish to point out that I used the word "captain" somewhat subjectively and only because the original news article did so.

Having been on boat trying to moor up when the sea is choppy, I would say the balustrades are far to flimsy.

Seems to me instead of budgeting for wear and tear in the harbour fee's they are going to pin the damage on the boat operators for damage to a pier that really was not built to handle boats of the size that uses it on a choppy days, same logic as the Jet Ski operators.

P.S. the boats are wooden and the pier is reinforced concrete and pier comes of worst, says a lot for the pier construction.

Having been on boat trying to moor up when the sea is choppy, I would say the balustrades are far to flimsy.

Seems to me instead of budgeting for wear and tear in the harbour fee's they are going to pin the damage on the boat operators for damage to a pier that really was not built to handle boats of the size that uses it on a choppy days, same logic as the Jet Ski operators.

P.S. the boats are wooden and the pier is reinforced concrete and pier comes of worst, says a lot for the pier construction.

While I agree with most of what you say, I do believe that if every "captain" who rams the pier were fined 10 or 20 K baht, it would cut down on the number of hits, and provide money for repairs. Better yet even, have every boat "captain", pay the total cost for instant repair. I bet the number of "rams", would go down really fast.