Vice Governor vows to demolish Surin Beach clubs
Phuket Gazette


Vice Governor Chokdee said that returning Surin Beach to its natural beauty will be a New Year's gift to the world. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- What was once arguably Phuket’s most famous stretch of beach clubs will be demolished by New Year, vowed Phuket Vice Governor Chokdee Amornrat today.

“It will take about two weeks to clear all the buildings and broken construction materials from Surin Beach boardwalk,” explained Vice Governor Chokdee. “This needs to be clearly explained to the English-speaking community impacted so that they understand that what we are doing is returning the beach to its former, natural beauty – a gift to the world for New Years.”

Only one man’s signature is preventing the government from establishing a start date for the demolition of Bimi Beach Club, Catch Beach Club and a number of other iconic establishments.

Watcharin Patomwattanapong, acting chief of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO), is required to sign off on the destruction of a number of buildings which are owned by the PPAO and were leased out to locals, who then allowed private businesses to operate at the facilities.

Mr Watcharin is expected to return to Phuket this week, confirmed a PPAO representative who declined to be named.

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Vice-Governor-vows-demolish-Surin-Beach-clubs/62501?desktopversion#ad-image-0


-- Phuket Gazette 2015-12-02

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

^^The "old" businesses are built on public land or are not being used as intended by the government. They all need to come down.

Ahhh...we can finally see the sand...

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

So in your home country it is okay to occupied some parts of the beach and build you a nice beach club restaurant without any legal paper ?

Why is it that when the word "Vows" appears in a headline nothing ever seems to happen ?

Why is it that when the word "Vows" appears in a headline nothing ever seems to happen ?

Too much illegal income in the mix. I have to wonder how much these businesses are paying to remain open on or near the beach. I expect more than we can imagine.

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

They should have been demolished a long time ago, but better late than never...

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

So in your home country it is okay to occupied some parts of the beach and build you a nice beach club restaurant without any legal paper ?

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

So in your home country it is okay to occupied some parts of the beach and build you a nice beach club restaurant without any legal paper ?

The huge difference is that in my country , US, no one would even try to open such a business and, if one did, somehow,

sneak one in it wouldn't be allowed to operate for DECADES, right under authorities non- smelling noses !

@ fred Kubasa

"The huge difference is that in my country , US, no one would even try to open such a business" - Really?

The Iran-Contra Affair comes to mind.

Plenty of natural beauty. Should be an economic impact study to see how many people will loose their jobs. This guy sounds like a mini dictator. Visitors like to come back and be familiar with their surroundings also. Old businesses should be supported not demolished.

So in your home country it is okay to occupied some parts of the beach and build you a nice beach club restaurant without any legal paper ?

The huge difference is that in my country , US, no one would even try to open such a business and, if one did, somehow,

sneak one in it wouldn't be allowed to operate for DECADES, right under authorities non- smelling noses !

Absolutely no corruption in the US then? All town, city, state and federal authorities absolutely squeaky clean and above reproach?

Must be utopia.

There seems to be some politics going on here, and it’s going to be an interesting battle of wills between the provincial governor appointed by the central government in Bangkok and the PPAO council elected by the locals.

As noted elsewhere, beaches are classed as part of the domain of the public State. Under Section 1304 of the Civil and Commercial Code, property, which forms part of the public domain, is inalienable, except by virtue of a special law, or a Royal Decree which means: you can’t sell, assign or deal commercially with beach land, without a special law from the responsible municipality (see http://www.windowonphuket.com/features_property_phuket/legal-matters-83.htm).

Now, according to the PPAO (http://www.phuketcity.org/aboutus.htm), they have the responsibility to “protect, take care, and preserve forest, land, natural resource, and environment” (which, from Section1304 probably includes beaches and foreshores). They also suggest that they “provide local development plan and other development plans assign by The Interior Minister”.

So, while VG Chokdee may be itching to bring in the dozers, it would seem that his vow to provide a gift to the world for New Year may be a bit premature (especially if Watcharin chooses not to sign).

Even the Phuket governor noted the complexity of the issue last year, when he was then VG. He said “Some of them are government property. We need to talk about it and bring other government departments into the conversation. We need to see what needs to be done in order to do everything legally. We need to follow the law and examine leases and contracts".

This last part of his quote is probably going to be the key to whether the buildings can be demolished or not while leases and contracts are still in force. So, given the Thai legal system, it’s hardly likely the world will be getting its gift this coming New Year!