Construction is
progressing slowly on a 3 million baht raised wheelchair path near the
Redemptorist Vocational School for Persons with Disabilities. The path
is critical for wheelchair using residents at the school, for the area
can be quite dangerous. City hall says the delay is due to a shortage of
construction workers, which, as shown in this photo, means no workers in
the middle of the afternoon.
Jetsada Homklin
Construction is still quite slow on a 3 million baht raised wheelchair
path near the Redemptorist Vocational School for Persons with
Disabilities.
Work began on the 15-centimeter-high path connecting the Redemptorist
School with Big C Extra on Dec. 26, but there was little evidence of any
progress visible by Feb. 11. City hall claimed the delay was due to a
shortage of construction workers.
“We all hope Pattaya will complete the project as fast as possible for
the convenience and safety of the disabled,” said Redemptorist school
technician Surasak Lakhummun, 36. The project, however, is not scheduled
for completion until June 23.
No construction workers were
seen at the site at 4pm Feb. 25.
Since it was announced in October, the wheelchair
route has been a repeated source of disappointment for disabled students
and staff. The path from Big C Extra on Central Road down Soi
Paniadchang to the Father Ray Foundation was initially expected to be
separated by traffic by a barrier. Instead, it simply a slightly raised
surface separated only by a painted line, with no expectation traffic
police will ticket anyone parking on it.
School director Udomchok Churat said he remains hopeful drivers will
respect the wheelchair route’s boundaries. “We have rules and when one
does not follow rules, everything will be destroyed,” he said. “Areas
reserved for disabled are usually taken by non-disabled individuals.
Therefore, there should be a thorough educational campaign. Everyone
should be kind and have self-discipline and respect one another.”
Surasak said he was pleased to see workers actually moving forward on
the route, but expressed concern that street corners still lacked ramps
to exit the raised path.
