Phetchabun – Military and forest officers and the administration have undertaken an investigation into the building of a luxurious resort on Khao Kho and have called a halt to the construction.
Lt Col Kiart-Udom Nadee, the commander of the 28th cavalry recently led military and forest officers and members of the administration to investigate the construction of large buildings on land in the area of Khao Pang Ko and Wang Chomphu, which are reserved national forests. This is a violation of the Khao Kho District authority’s announcement prohibiting construction.
The investigation team found the contractor and more than 30 construction workers hurriedly doing the construction and decoration work of three four-floored buildings. Furthermore, it was found that these buildings had been seized by the authority in late 2016 but the prosecuting attorney of Lom Sak District had not granted a prosecution due to insufficient evidence.
Somnit Nut-art, who admitted that he was the person in charge of the construction and contractor, claimed that after the prosecuting attorney’s order had been issued, he thought there would be no further problem. Therefore, he proceeded with the construction and confirmed that the land still belonged to the same owner who also took part in the investment.
The team of officers asked for an examination of the licenses for land use and construction as normally granted by the Royal Forest Department. Somnit accepted that no permission had been asked for to permit the development, so the officer notified him that the construction had to be stopped. No legal proceedings were initiated however.
The commander of the 28th cavalry reported later that at the moment regulations are being prepared in regard to the encroachment of Khao Kho forestland. In this case, all the information will be examined to present to the provincial committee which will consider how legal proceedings are to be pursued.
