The widening of Jomtien Beach is already behind schedule, but the Pattaya Marine Department promised the job would be completed on time in 2022.
The 586-million-baht project calls for 3.5 kilometers of Jomtien Beach to be restored in a first phase, with a second phase taking the widening to the Najomtien border by 2022.
While the source of the sand and the contractor – Italian Thai Development Co. – will be the same as were used in the earlier rebuild of Pattaya Beach, the two projects differ in several respects.
For one, there’s no need to burying Geotex bags of sand to build up the beach to make a wider platform to lay sand upon. Second, Jomtien isn’t ravaged by water draining from the streets to the beach as it does downtown.
But, even without those impediments, the project has already fallen behind due to work stoppages caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the weather.
Marine Department Director Eakaraj Kantaro said Aug. 25 that only 60,000 of the needed 640,000 cubic meters of sand have been reclaimed from the waters off Koh Rang Kwien in the Gulf of Thailand. High waves and monsoonal winds have forced the suction ship to halt operations numerous times.
But Eakaraj said the delays would not postpone completion of the entire project, as ITDC will work overtime during dry season to complete the work on time.
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