Editor;

Please relate to Dr. Iain my sincere appreciation for his contribution to the Pattaya Mail Channel. His wit and essential British humour has given me many a good laugh and I commend him on his many genuinely award winning performances.

Dear Sir,

It is astonishing that the activities of City Hall are being interfered with on the matter of the 101 businesses in South Pattaya, by the very same government department (Ministry of the Interior) who, only a few weeks ago, told City Hall that it was ok if they wished to act in a manner contrary to the laws of the Kingdom of Thailand by erecting and allowing a casino to operate on Larn Island.

So the position has been reached that City Hall may break the law on one matter, but will suffer action from the department on another unless they ‘tow the line’! Has the new constitution given City Hall more powers, or has it not?

Only a government department would fail to see the vast improvement made already in this part of South Pattaya. Much money has been spent by City Hall on the paving of the Walking Street and its sidewalks; more money still has been spent by most of the owners of the 101 shops, on vast improvements to them, in some cases entailing total demolition and re-building.

Anyone visiting the street would have no doubts as to its popularity with residents and visitors alike. Nobody, other than an out-of-touch ministry, would suggest at this stage that all this work should be brought to nothing.

We have suffered enough during the excavations for the water treatment scheme, in which that end of Beach Road was as badly affected as any part; are we to return, for an indefinite period, to the condition of holocaust that was our daily lot at that period?

A new pier is under construction at Bali High Point. But we already have a pier, adjacent to the once notorious Siren Bar. That it was not approved by the Harbour Department is now history, as is the threat of the time that City Hall would be sued if it were not demolished. It is substantial, and could stand for 100 years!

Pollution is another red herring raised. I put the point that if there is any, it is far less than in the quite recent past. Are memories so short that no one now recalls that behind the 101 shops there used to be a veritable network of roughly made jetties, landing points, etc., to serve a substantial fleet of fishing boats? Don’t tell me that all that rubbish they generated was carefully taken away to an authorised dump for disposal! Don’t suggest to me either that the crews never relieved themselves over the boat side, nor that some kind of makeshift toilet arrangements did not allow untreated sewage to drop into the water! I put the point that the water in this area is likely to be cleaner now than for a generation.

If Pattaya City Hall really has the authority to determine its own future plans for the city, they should be allowed to determine for themselves the future of the Walking Street area. The Ministry for the Environment should get its act together and decide what powers there are and who holds them.

Yours faithfully,