Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho is investigating how developers of this hotel and restaurant under construction on Koh Larn’s Tawaen Beach gained approval for their project which is being built on public land.

Nopniwat Krailerg & Jetsada Homklin
Banglamung District officials are investigating how developers of a hotel and restaurant under construction on Koh Larn’s Tawaen Beach gained approval for their project which is being built illegally on public land.
District Chief Sakchai Taengho led land and forestry officials to inspect the building site next to the Pattaya administrative office on the island Nov. 12. They found the hotel and restaurant being built on 14 rai of land at the edge of a steep hillside was 70 percent complete and fenced off.
A stop-work notice had been posted on the fence, but ignored by contractors until Sakchai showed up.
Representatives from Pummari Construction Ltd. cooperated and stopped work, but produced Land Department documentation claiming the development had been legally approved.
Sakchai, however, confirmed they were not. The land is public and cannot be leased or sold for private use, he said.
The district chief said an investigation will be launched to find out whether the documents were genuine and, if they are, who authorized and approved them.
The investigation should take no more than 30 days, he said. If fraud or corruption is found, legal action will be taken, he vowed.