Nine months after taking possession of a Chinese shrine on Big Buddha Hill, Pattaya is no closer to redeveloping the site it battled for years in the courts to control.
Deputy City Manager Pramote Tubtim, lawyers and engineers toured the five-rai Wang Sam Sien site on Phra Khao Yai Dec. 21, meeting with representatives of the Mahakitpaisan Foundation that built and managed the shrine built on public land.
City officials discussed formation of the court-mandated commission to manage the site and legal transfer documents. However, the future of the site is no clearer than it was when deputy mayors Manote Nongyai and Pattana Boonsawad toured the site March 28.
Pattaya was given the Ministry of Defense land previously managed by the Royal Thai Navy. After the rights were transferred, Pattaya improved the landscaping but found numerous private ventures had built on part of the land. It ordered all the structures removed in October 2016.
The city originally planned to raze the shrine, but reversed course and will now manage it directly or turn it over to Chonburi Province. But the design and budget for such redevelopment remains uncertain.
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