Pattaya City is experiencing
accelerated growth and development.
Phasakorn Channgam
Large-scale foreign ownership of land in Pattaya is not
affecting the city’s development plans, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome.
Downplaying a much-disputed claim by Thailand’s Office of
the Ombudsman that a third of Thailand’s land is owned by foreigners -
including 30 percent of Pattaya - Itthiphol said local government oversight
and land laws have to date been effective checks against the use of Thai
spouses and nominees to buy land and that foreign investment actually has
helped grow the city.
“There are many nominee companies, but the Chonburi,
Pattaya and district administrative organizations and other agencies are
cooperating to keep a diligent eye on things and place a lot of importance
on this issue,” the mayor said. “There are both benefits and downsides to
the situation, with the benefits being that foreign investment has been an
important part of increasing the city’s economic value. But it does affect
Thai people’s feelings about the country’s stability.”
Itthiphol’s comments came after Ombudsman Sriracha
Charoenpanij, speaking at a March 12 hearing by the Senate Committee on
Economic, Commercial and Industrial Affairs in Parliament, cited a National
Institute of Development Administration study that claimed wealthy
foreigners are using marriages to Thai women or nominees to buy prized
properties, particularly in well-known beach resort towns.
The explosive allegation that 100 million rai of Thai
land was being held in foreign hands thanks to legal loopholes and
corruption set off both a wave of nationalist rhetoric and scathing
criticism of the ombudsman’s loosely sourced facts. Real estate analysts
called the figures “impossible” and newspaper editorialists blasted
Sriracha’s claim as a “classic case of xenophobia based on false
statistics.”
Nonetheless, the ombudsman said his office would be
preparing new legislation to crack down on nominee company land holdings.
Pattaya’s mayor, however, seemed unconcerned.
“The important thing to remember is that the local
administrative office has management responsibilities over all land and
monitors corruption or threats to the traditional way of life for local
people, which has not been affected or threatened by the issue,” Itthiphol
said.
He acknowledged that local Thais may have been alarmed by
the ombudsman’s claim 30 percent of Pattaya’s land is held by foreigners,
but “local development and plans are not affected in any way.”
“I believe that there are laws that will govern and
protect any wrongdoings or any illegalities and if any law is found to be
ineffective, the government will consider modifications,” he said.
