Pattaya’s mayor defended the delayed project to lay new drainage pipes under the railway-parallel road, but delivered only bad news on its completion.
Mayor Poramet Ngampichet appeared at a May 3 forum in the Chumsai Community where he fielded questions and complaints about city infrastructure and services.
Tops among the complaints was the overdue completion of the disruptive roadwork along the rail tracks. Residents whined about continued flooding that the project is supposed to fix, plus the constant road construction, congestion and detours.
Poramet defended the project, saying it will solve the problem of water pouring downhill into Pattaya from Nongprue. But, when pushed when it will be done, he admitted that the work is on hold until at least October.
Poor planning and even-worse coordination with the State Railway of Thailand resulted in pipeline contractors running afoul of designs for the SRT’s high-speed train station.
The pipes must now be rerouted to dump water in the Nok Yang canal, but there’s no money for that until the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
That means the project will continue to drag on with the railway road remaining unfinished.
Poramet said the contractor hired by the city is behind schedule due to both the pipe-route problem and labor shortages.
He said the city continues to fine the contractor and is pushing for them to fix the road. That appears, however, to have little effect.
