Officials meet at City
Hall to discuss the latest setback in building a vendor-free shoreline
on Kratinglai Beach.
Vittaya Yoondorn
Pattaya officials have hit yet another delay in
building a vendor-free shoreline on Kratinglai Beach.
At a June 1 Pattaya City Hall meeting, Deputy
Permanent Secretary Apichart Phuetphan agreed to allow contractors to
suspend construction, without penalty, until questions over property
rights are clarified.
The city announced a 150 million baht budget in 2009
to redevelop the Kratinglai section of shoreline at the North
Pattaya-Naklua border as a natural beach reserve. Beach chair umbrella
vendors, jet skis and other common beachfront annoyances would be
prohibited.
The plan has made little headway in the three years
since, with budget shortfalls and lawsuits over land ownership impeding
any real progress.
The latest delay came after contractors from Nong
Nooch Landscape & Garden Design Co. Ltd. finally began actual
construction May 22, but were almost immediately blocked from working on
a parcel of land bounded by Soi 6 and Soi 6/1 in Kratinglai. The land
owner claimed to have won a court of appeals decision allowing him to
retain ownership of the land and has refused to sell or cede the
property to the city.
Apichart confessed to being unaware of the current
status of litigation and agreed to allow Nong Nooch to halt work and not
be penalized for any delays until the city could determine if, in fact,
the land owner did win the court case.
