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Highway 7 to open by month’s end
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
The entirety of the Chonburi-Pattaya Motorway will open
before the end of March, marking the end of a four-year project to relieve
traffic congestion and create a convenient link between Pattaya and Bangkok
International Airport.
Atit Keowkam, an engineer with Naowaratpattanakarn, the
firm leading construction of Highway 7, said the last phase of the 2 billion
baht project will be turned over to the Highway Department March 22.
The only work remaining to be done, he said, was the
installation of road signs and to finish painting the lane dividers.
Highway 7 was authorized by the Department of Highways as
an urgent measure to relieve traffic that was crippling development of the
Eastern Seaboard. It was also aimed at capitalizing on the opening of the
Suvarnabhumi airport, which is located much closer to Pattaya than the old
Don Muang facility.
Construction got off to a bad start when work had to be
halted for a year to work out conflicts with locals who were against the
government seizing their property to make way for the new motorway. The
problems were eventually resolved and the first two phases of the project
were completed last year.
While Atit said he did not know for sure, he believes the
expressway will be free for users as there has yet to be a contract let to
construct and operate toll booths.
City calls on vendors to keep Pattaya Beach cleaner
Vendors help clean up Pattaya Beach after a recent storm.
City Hall is asking vendors keep their areas clean at all times, not just
after storms.
Boonlua Chatree
Beach vendors and city workers were asked to do their part in
keeping Pattaya Beach clean and free of vagrants.
At a Feb. 26 meeting, Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay said
trash and homeless people are giving Pattaya Beach a bad reputation as being
dirty and unsafe. He said the city cannot solve the problem alone and urged
those who make their living on the sand to help out.
Pramot Sapsang of the City Resource Department said beach
chair vendors and others should keep their plots clean, as it’s not easy for
sanitation workers to get into those areas and, in the past, they have not
received much cooperation from vendors when they did.
Verawat also called on the Pattaya Engineering Department
to install more lighting along the beachfront to discourage loitering and
said police and security officials need to crackdown on vagrants who live
and sleep on the beach.
Public Health Ministry sketches
plans for nationwide cardiac care network at Jomtien conference
Phasakorn Channgam
As it prepares to set up primary-care cardiac centers in all
of Thailand’s 76 provinces, the Ministry of Public Health met with doctors,
nurses, pharmacists and hospital administrators in Jomtien Beach on how
technology could be used to remedy the medical industry’s chronic staff
shortages.
Dr. Sathaporn Wongcharoen, deputy permanent secretary for
the Ministry of Public Health, opens the conference.
Dr. Sathaporn Wongcharoen, deputy ministry permanent
secretary, opened the tech seminar at the 2nd Cardiac Network Forum at the
Ambassador City Hotel Feb. 24 attended by more than 1,200 people.
Officials said heart disease is the second leading cause
of death in Thailand with more than 13,000 cases a year. The ministry is
trying to reduce that number by opening urgent-care centers around Thailand
by 2015, but also plans to expand disbursement of anti-coagulation blood
treatments to 14 community hospitals in eight provinces this year.
To date, 29 heart centers under the ministry have
registered for the Acute Myocardial Infarction, or STEMI Registry, to
provide knowledge about disease occurrence and mortality rates. Plans call
for registration to expand nationwide.
“In the past, most cardiology centers were in Bangkok.
Patients in the provinces had to pay both the cost and time to travel to get
treatment. Some died before being treated,” Sathaporn said. “The Ministry of
Public Health is accelerating efforts to improve the readiness of hospitals
to be cardiology centers.”
Dr. Atsada Triyapan, deputy director of nursing at
Chonburi Hospital, said the facility has been building up its cardiology
center for a decade and now can offer services for heart-disease patients
second to only Siriraj Hospital. It currently performs about 150 coronary
bypass surgeries and up to 500 angioplasty treatments a year.
The latest Cardiac Network Forum served as a technology
conference for gathering studies, research and experience on heart disease
to share with community hospitals around the country. The idea is to
integrate medical, nursing and cardiology personnel throughout the country
to develop cardiac-disease standards together.
Food poisoning on increase in Thailand
Study calls for central food center in Pattaya
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Food poisoning is on the increase in Thailand as more people
flock to cities such as Pattaya to set up food carts and restaurants without
sufficient training in proper sanitary procedures, a study from Silpakorn
University concludes.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay receives the study results
to submit to the mayor for further consideration.
Assistant Professor Apisek Pansuwan, who led the study on
food sanitation and vendors, called on Pattaya officials at a March 2
Pattaya City Hall seminar to begin a pilot project in the city to centralize
food distribution to prevent cases of food poisoning and acute diarrhea.
Thailand has seen annual increases in cases of acute
diarrhea with nearly 1.3 million cases - and 83 deaths - in 2007, the most
current study. In Chonburi alone there were 15,587 cases and 1 death that
same year, he said with the main cause being eating spoiled or improperly
prepared food.
Apisek blamed a steady influx of people from rural
provinces who come to Pattaya and other cites to make money by setting up
their own restaurants. However, he said, most lack the funds to do so and
end up becoming ad-hoc food vendors in public areas who pay little heed to
cleanliness and proper clean food-handling procedures.
This has the potential to damage the country’s image
among tourists unless something is done, he said.
The study said a central food distribution center would
be cleaner and safer. Apisek said he’d like to see Pattaya become the pilot
project for such a center.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay said the city regularly
inspects and regulates food safety at restaurants and other areas, but
admitted the increase in independent vendors means not every place selling
food can be checked. He said the city will review the university’s study to
see if setting up a food center is feasible.
Pattaya aims for 5,000
anti-rabies injections in 2010
The city is
offering free rabies vaccinations and other services at reduced prices
inside this building on 3rd Road near the fire station.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya hopes to administer 5,000 rabies vaccinations this year as
part of a city-wide effort to control the disease and the stray animal
population.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay said the city vaccinated
185 dogs and 53 cats last month during its first anti-rabies day. It now
offers free injections through the Pattaya Public Health Office from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at a booth on Third Road in front of the Pattaya
Fire Station.
The deputy mayor also said the city will respond to
complaints about stray dogs by rounding up the animals and taking them
to the Plutaluang animal shelter.
The Pattaya Public Health Office also provides other
inexpensive health services for animals, including birth-control
injections and flea and tick treatments for 50 baht each, 350-500 baht
neutering and spaying for dogs and cats, and other medical services for
200 baht. For more information, call 038-420-823 ext. 113 or 123.
Ministry holds first public hearing into new oil drilling in Gulf of Thailand
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Hoping to reduce the country’s reliance on imported
energy, the Ministry of Energy is looking to expand oil exploration in
the Gulf of Thailand and has begun taking public input into drilling
plans off the Eastern Seaboard and its environmental impacts.
Will the Gulf of Thailand soon be home to more rigs like
this one shown under tow in British coastal waters? (AP Photo/Diamond
Offshore drilling, ho)
Production of oil and natural gas in Thailand has
increased over the past few years, but domestic production is still not
enough to meet local demand.
Chonburi Deputy Gov. Sunthorn Ratanawaraha chaired the
first public hearing into the exploration project March 2 with officials
from the Department of Mineral Fuels, Technical Petroleum Training
Institute, oil-exploration concessionaires and residents attending. The
hearing outlined the goal of the drilling project, environmental impact
studies and gave the public a chance to voice its opinion.
This was the first in a series of public hearings planned
in accordance with Thailand’s 2007 Constitution, section 57 laying out
guidelines necessary before drilling can begin in the Gulf. At the time of
going to press, the time and place for the next meeting had not yet been
determined.
Chonburi officials urge residents to keep peace, no matter their color
Chonburi
Province officials are urging all sides of the color coded political
conflict to remain calm and peaceful.
Boonlua Chatree
Chonburi Province officials have urged residents to not believe rumors
and listen to all sides in the country’s current color-coded political
troubles and not act rashly or violently.
At a Feb. 26 press conference held the same day the
Supreme Court ordered the seizure of more than 46 billion baht from former
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Chonburi Deputy Gov. Sunthorn
Ratanawaraha urged the convicted ex-premier’s red-shirted followers to
remain calm and for reds, yellows and all sides in the dispute to not rush
to judgment or action in the coming weeks.
He said the Chonburi Internal Security Operations Command
has asked residents to use discretion when listening to information and
consider both sides of the argument. Officials also stressed that disputes
must remain within the law. Otherwise, national and local interests will be
hurt.
Sunthorn reminded people that last year’s red-shirt riots
in Bangkok and their storming of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
summit in Pattaya, as well as the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for
Democracy seizure of Bangkok International Airport the year before, dealt
crippling blows to Chonburi and Thailand tourism. The area has made a
recovery, but new violent outbreaks would reverse that, he said.
The deputy governor said most people want to see their
country at peace and uphold the virtues of the monarchy. If Thai people are
united, he said, the country will prosper.
Foreigner abandons
burning Mercedes after
crashing into power poles
Boonlua Chatree
A foreign driver abandoned his Mercedes-Benz sports car after
it burst into flames following a crash into three high-voltage power poles.
This used to be a Mercedes SLK 200.
Bunsin Chanwaranan, owner of the Pokakit
construction-supplies store on Soi Nongprue in Banglamung, told police he
saw a middle-age foreigner jump out of the Mercedes SLK 200 and flee the
scene in another vehicle after crashing the car into power lines near his
shop around 5:30 a.m. Feb. 24. The driver appeared to be drunk, Bunsin said.
It took firefighters nearly an hour to extinguish the
blaze that had fully engulfed the car and nearby ground by the time
authorities arrived at the scene.
Officers are now trying to determine who was driving the
car and pursue him to pay for the damage to the power lines.
Pattaya, Chonburi police arrest 4 ya ice dealers
Police show the media
the 4 hi-so drug dealers
caught in a recent undercover sting operation.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Chonburi and Pattaya police have arrested four people for allegedly
dealing crystal methamphetamines to upper-class residents of Pattaya and
Bangkok.
High-ranking officers from the Chonburi Provincial Police
and Pattaya Police station announced the arrests of the Bangkok and Rayong
dealers in unrelated cases Feb. 28, as well as the seizure of more than 84
grams of ya ice.
In the first case, a minor drug bust by Chonburi officers
led to the arrest of Rayong dealers Pawat Deehomsil, 41, and wife Nannisama
Khunasinsirikul, 25. They were caught with 43 g. of ya ice during a police
buy at Sritrakul Place building in Naklua.
In the second case, an undercover sting operation netted
Ninnat Paothong, 27, and girlfriend Wachiporn Sangkachok, 18, and the
seizure of 41.3 g. of ya ice and their Toyota Fortuner truck. Both confessed
to selling the drugs to rich Thais in Pattaya and Bangkok.
Thai chocolate leaves Swiss
man with sour aftertaste
Boonlua Chatree
A Swiss man learned Thai chocolate isn’t so sweet after he
ate a treat offered to him by a streetwalker and woke up with a drug
hangover and missing nearly 100,000 baht.
Erni explains the details of his ordeal to Pattaya Mail reporter Boonlua Chatree.
Erni Felix Ferdinand, 70, called police shortly after
midnight March 4 to his Carlton Hotel room where he had brought two Thai
women he met earlier that night on the beach near Soi 6.
Ferdinand told officers he had been walking along the
beachfront when he was approached by a fat, red-headed Thai woman about 40
years old who said she and a friend had just arrived in Pattaya and had not
yet found a place to stay. When she asked if they could sleep in his hotel,
he agreed.
At that point the woman offered the elderly Swiss
national a taste of Thai chocolate, calling it a sexual performance aid. He
admitted that he ate the entire bar. The next thing he remembered was waking
up around 11 p.m. with 750 euros and nearly 5,000 Swiss francs missing from
his room.
The two women were captured on closed-circuit television
cameras and police are using their photos to track down the sticky-fingered
chocolatiers.
Illegal lotto broker
believed to have burned
‘lucky’ Bang Saray shrines
Shrines were set on
fire just before the lottery draw this month, leaving many to believe it was
done purposely to keep wood nymphs from revealing lottery numbers.
Patcharapol Panrak
An underground lottery dealer is believed to be behind the
burning of a supposed “lucky” tree and two shrines spread out kilometers
apart on Sukhumvit Road that allegedly magically popped winning lotto
numbers into the heads of superstitious Thais.
Bang Saray firefighters were called to extinguish two
small fires Feb. 27 near makeshift shrines erected between kilometer markers
163 - 165, and again at km marker 57, sites where locals said about 10
numbers for the illegal lottery were conceived.
No one actually knows for sure who started the fires,
which started with an attempt to burn the lucky tree, nor has anyone
actually been arrested for it. But area gamblers allege a local illegal
lottery vendor got fed up with paying out and decided to take the
fortune-telling forest out at the root.
This, of course, sprouted new ghost stories, including
one about a group of five beautiful wood nymphs displaced from their wooded
home by the evil lotto broker. The hi-so spirits allegedly have taken to
riding in the back of Sukhumvit songthaews in search of a new home from
which to hand out their magical three-digit winners.
After the fires, lotto lovers bought tickets with the
numbers 164 and 57 for the March 1 drawing, neither of which turned out to
be winners.
Tourist Police do late-night
Walking Street cleanup
Police line up the
Cambodians and their children for a group photo before processing them
through legal channels.
Boonlua Chatree
Pattaya Tourist Police launched another of its periodic crackdowns on
flower girls, animal vendors, beggars and prostitutes on Walking Street,
rounding up 36 people for soliciting tourists in violation of the law.
The after-midnight March 2 raid netted 10 Cambodian
adults and 7 children working the streets as beggars and flower sellers,
along with six transvestite prostitutes; two people trying to sell photos
with wild animals, and nine touts hawking tawdry shows to unsuspecting
tourists.
All were taken to the Pattaya Tourist Police station for further
processing.
29-year-old arrested after
luring 15-year-old girl
from chat room to Pattaya
Theerarak Suthathiwong
A 29-year-old Loei man was arrested for enticing the
15-year-old daughter of a Nakhon Sawan police officer he met in an Internet
chat room to pawn her computer and digital camera and fund a trip to Pattaya
for the two of them.
Supasak “Tai” Maitreesawat was taken into custody based
on an arrest warrant from Nakhon Sawan at an apartment complex on Soi
Sukhumvit 55 in Pattaya March 3.
Pol. Capt. Thapana’s daughter remains just out of sight
to the right as police lecture Supasak Maitreesawat.
The arrest came after a Nakhon Sawan officer contacted
Pattaya officials to search for her daughter, “Nong Mai,” who had left home
Feb. 26 with her laptop and camera to meet a man she’d met using the “QQ
Chat” program the month before.
Supasak told police the two had been chatting continually
for a month and decided to run off together, first to Bangkok and then,
after selling her electronics to pay for an apartment, to Pattaya where he
intended to look for a job.
Pol. Capt. Thapana Klorsuwan, a Royal Thai Police Region
2 inspector, said the girl had initially thrown her parents off her trail by
claiming she was in Chang Mai. Only after they went there did her parents
realize they’d been duped and traced the call back to Pattaya.
Thapana said he hopes the case reminds parents to pay
more attention to their children’s online activities and the threat posed by
chat rooms.
Diana Group, 2 cable
firms plan Dharma Center
(L to R) Chatchai Inthuwisakul, managing director of Banglamung Cable TV
Co., Ltd., Sopin Thappajug, managing director of the Diana Group, Deputy
Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh and Ratakit Hengtrakul, deputy director of Sophon
Cable TV Pattaya Co., Ltd. sign the cooperative agreement for the Dharma
Center.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Expanding its efforts to bring Buddhist doctrine into the
homes of Pattaya-area residents, the Diana Group has signed an agreement
with the area’s two cable television companies to open a “Dharma Center” to
teach and broadcast morality lessons.
The hotel chain signed the agreement with Banglamung
Cable TV Co., Ltd. and Sophon Cable TV Pattaya Co., Ltd. Feb. 26. Sopin
Thappajug, Diana Group managing director, said she hopes the new center will
change people’s attitudes toward Dharma, get them to practice its principles
more in daily life and improve business ties between temples, hotels and
other businesses.
The Diana Group debuted its “Diana Dharma in Time”
television program in January on the two cable networks and wants to air new
lectures from the Diana Garden Resort every three months. More than 300
people attended the first show. The next episode was filmed March 4.
Scrap-metal thieves steal brass piping from 50 homes
Boonlua Chatree
Scrap-metal thieves have taken brass pipes from the outside
of about 50 homes in the Paradise 1 village on Soi Khao Noi.
One of the homes left waterless after thieves stole brass
fittings connecting houses with water meters.
Four homeowners contacted the Pattaya Mail on February 26
after the brass fittings connecting their houses with water meters went
missing, leaving homeowners without water.
Homeowner Patcharee Sri-In, 40, said she contacted the
Pattaya Waterworks Authority, who told her theft of the valuable brass
piping has been a problem and to report it to police.
Navy trains 236 soldiers for next rotation as Hat Yai airport security
Rear Adm. Chakchai Phucharoenyot and Capt. Kompan
Uparanon review the troops before training them to provide security at Hat
Yai International Airport.
Patcharapol Panrak
More than 230 Royal Thai Navy personnel from Sattahip will
head to Songkla Province next month to provide security at Hat Yai
International Airport.
Rear Adm. Chakchai Phucharoenyot, commander of the Air
and Coastal Defense Command, reviewed the 236 troops scheduled to relieve
current Navy-supplied security at the civilian airport during an exercise at
the command’s training center Feb. 25.
Training Center Deputy Commander Capt. Kompan Uparanon
said forces are undergoing a month of training at U-Tapao Pattaya
International Airport before being assigned to the airport in the heart of
Thailand’s troubled south. They were scheduled to receive 16 days of theory
work and another two weeks of field training in weapons, tactics and airport
security procedures.
Chakchai told troops to take the airport assignment
seriously, be tolerant of the Muslim-dominated crowds they’ll find at the
airport and be prepared, if necessary, to give their lives for the nation.
Songkla and two other southern provinces have been the scene of a bloody
insurgency that has killed more than 2,000 people in the past five years,
including more than 100 military personnel.
Privately funded pipeline
to bring clean water
to Rayong sub-district
IRPC Managing Director Pairin Choochotthaworn and
officials from
the Tapong government announce the new pipeline project.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Residents and businesses in Rayong’s industrial Tapong
Sub-district soon will have clean water thanks to a pipeline funded largely
by petrochemical company IRPC (Public) Co., Ltd.
Due to the soil in the factory-encircled Moo 16 section
of Tapong being highly acidic, surface and underground water cannot be used
safely. However, the Rayong Waterworks Authority said it will not fund a new
pipeline to the neighborhood.
As part of its “community water supply project,” the
Tapong government and IRPC agreed to jointly fund a new water main for Moo
16, with the petrochemical company paying 745,000 baht and the sub-district
picking up the 197,500 baht balance.
IRPC Managing Director Pairin Choochotthaworn said the
new pipeline should ensure the community has a sufficient supply of clean
water and will improve relations between residents, business and the local
government.
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