Phasakorn Channgam
Nearly a month after demanding that jet ski vendors register at city
hall or face criminal action, city officials are still mulling how best
to end the seemingly unending string of embarrassing scams against
tourists.
Marine
Office 6 Director Rewat Photrieng said last month’s push to register all
jet ski operators by Sept. 10 resulted in 140 vendors from Pattaya and
28 from Koh Larn giving city hall their names and vessel numbers.
At a Sept. 28 Pattaya City Hall meeting, Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh
said that while 168 beach vendors did register their 520 jet skis, many
have not. Failure to register, however, hasn’t led to any repercussions
for scofflaws, who Ronakit vowed in late August would be “classified as
criminals” if they didn’t comply.
Instead, the deputy mayor again summoned Marine Office bureaucrats to
discuss new regulations to cover all water-related sports businesses on
area beaches.
Marine Office 6 Director Rewat Photrieng said last month’s push to
register all jet ski operators by Sept. 10 resulted in 140 vendors from
Pattaya and 28 from Koh Larn giving city hall their names and vessel
numbers for their respective 382 and 138 jet skis.
The city, however, has no idea how many others still have not
registered, although Rewat said officials are sure the vendors who
stepped forward represent only a portion of those working the beaches.
Before any new regulation can be drafted, the city still must find a way
to determine exactly how many jet skis and boats are working beaches on
the mainland and near islands, outline parking and business zones and
figure out how to force vendors to register.
