again promise action against encroachment
Banglamung District Chief
Sakchai Taengho (2nd left) and Pattaya Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay (2nd
right), along with local officials, inspect the troublesome South
Pattaya drainage canal, pointing out trouble spots. With parts of the
canal intentionally blocked for personal gain, South Pattaya often
floods during heavy rainfall. For the 4th straight year, officials are
once again threatening to cite offenders and remove encroaching
structures. Doubts remain whilst South Pattaya continues to flood.
Thanachot Anuwan
Area officials continued their four-year war against South Pattaya
landowners blocking a vital storm-drainage canal, again inspecting the
area, citing offenders and making yet more threats to remove encroaching
structures.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho joined Pattaya Deputy Mayor
Verawat Khakhay at the South Pattaya Water Treatment Center June 25 for
the canal inspection, an annual exercise that has proven largely futile
since 2009.
As has been the case every year since, public officials found buildings,
construction materials and trash blocking water flow in the canal and
made threats to sue landowners and remove structures. Only once in four
years, however, has the city actually carried through on any of its
promises and threats.
One of the remaining trouble
spots along the South Pattaya drainage canal, which catches debris and
impedes water runoff during heavy rain, causing all of South Pattaya to
flood.
This summer marked Sakchai’s first run at the problem
and he said the canal only now has two or three true problems spots. In
one case, he said, the property owner has been called into discuss the
problem. In the other case, in property adjoining the Siam Bayshore
Hotel, the property owner cannot be located.
Looking over the garbage that Thais continue to dump into the canal,
which feeds directly into Pattaya Bay, both Sakchai and Verawat urged
locals to dispose of trash properly. The deputy mayor noted the city has
requested 27 million baht to clean and widen the canal.
