Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
(standing) addresses the Pattaya City Council.
Vittaya Yoondron
The Pattaya City Council will give the operator of a
new water-treatment plant five additional years to run the plant slated
for construction next year.
At the council’s first meeting of 2012, on April 12,
members approved a motion by Councilman Manoch Nongyai to extend the
initial operating contract from 20 to 25 years. Manoch reasoned that the
private sector moves slowly and would want or need the five extra years
in return for bidding on the 700 million baht project.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome announced plans in January
for a second water-treatment plant for the city and officials have
slowly been working their way toward putting construction and operation
of the plant out for bid.
The plant would further treat hard water produced by
plants on Soi Nong Yai and Soi Wat Boonkanchanaram so that it could be
sold as tap water by the Provincial Waterworks Authority. While it’s
able to supply Pattaya with about 250,000 cu. meters of water per day,
the PWA says the city’s current average usage of 138,000 cu. meters is
rising and, within years, will exceed capacity.
Itthiphol previously assured council members that
even though the water system would be outsourced to the private sector,
the city would retain control of the 700 million baht in funds it hopes
to obtain and act as “caretaker” after the plant goes into operation.
The contract alteration was one of 14 items on the
city council’s agenda for its first meeting. Routine business comprised
the rest, including introduction of Juthamas Sirithien as a new
technical and planning administration officer; submission of financial
records to the National Anti-Corruption Commission by May 25; budget
changes for Department of Civil Engineering to allow for the purchase of
a saw; and the shifting of school construction funds from Pattaya School
No. 1 to No. 6.
