To the east, or inland side of
Walking Street, the South Pattaya canal has been expanded back to its original
20 meters wide.
Warunya Thongrod
Clearing South Pattaya’s storm-drainage canal of all its obstructions will be
slower and more complicated than expected, as area officials have discovered
that more than 25 large commercial buildings are encroaching on public land near
Walking Street.
Following a May 8 announcement by Pattaya Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay that half
of the canal had been recovered, Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho did
his own inspection May 14, discovering another collection of buildings near the
Soho Square section of Walking Street were also built over the waterway. Even
worse, every one of the 30 buildings in the neighborhood were dumping untreated
sewage and wastewater into the canal, which feeds directly into Pattaya Bay.
In reaction, Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay returned to the site the next day with
Engineering and Public Health department workers who mapped out the area, even
painting a line showing the border of the public canal zone. Parts of 90 percent
of the 30 buildings were built over the line, if not the waterway itself.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai
Taengho (2nd right) and Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay (right) inspect the
progress of recovering the South Pattaya canal.
Among them are a guesthouse opposite Soho Square owned by
Pithak Pottian, who built rental rooms over the canal, and the Right Spot Inn,
which constructed employee dormitories on the canal. Both owners have been given
60 days to remove the structures.
“I want people to know that we will be making periodic inspections and I confirm
that the issue is handled in the same way for all encroachments, whether big or
small,” Sakchai said. “People can rest assured that there are no double
standards in our working methods.”
Sakchai made - and followed through - on a similar pronouncement a month ago in
relation to the structures blocking the drainage canal east of Walking Street.
Previously untouchable land owners, such as the Siam Bayshore Resort & Spa were
called on the carpet and are being forced to dismantle footbridges and even
reshape an island built in the canal.
“I must caution that more time is needed for removal of big buildings, since the
expense is quite high. But we are complying with the Building Control Act of
1979 and in the case of slow progress, the local administrative organization can
proceed with immediate removal with the owner responsible for the expenses,” the
district chief said. “I am confident that this will be a success.”
A city mandated backhoe works to
expand the canal behind Soi Marine.
Perhaps more troubling than the actual encroachment of the
canal zone is the documentation that none of the 30 buildings using the canal to
flush wastewater are using Sewage Aeration Treatment System, or SATS, tanks.
Instead of filtering waste-water through SATS tanks, which use active bacteria
to treat the water, sewage and wastewater is being dumped directly into the
canal that feeds into the sea.
The “discovery” could hardly have been a surprise to anyone, as the putrid smell
of the canal has filled the air around the southernmost end of Walking Street
for years and Pattaya Beach, at the canal’s outlet, has been stained black.
Still, the public documentation of the issue has inspired politicians to promise
a fix. Verawat said Pattaya will lay a new drainage system for the canal area,
with 2-meter-wide wastewater pipes on either side of the canal and clean water
flowing between them. He said property owners will also be educated not to use
the canal as a garbage dump.
