Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho (2nd left) and Pattaya Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay (2nd right), along with local officials, inspect the troublesome South Pattaya drainage canal, pointing out trouble spots. With parts of the canal intentionally blocked for personal gain, South Pattaya often floods during heavy rainfall. For the 4th straight year, officials are once again threatening to cite offenders and remove encroaching structures. Doubts remain whilst South Pattaya continues to flood.
again promise action against encroachment
Area officials continued their four-year war against South Pattaya landowners blocking a vital storm-drainage canal, again inspecting the area, citing offenders and making yet more threats to remove encroaching structures.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho joined Pattaya Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay at the South Pattaya Water Treatment Center June 25 for the canal inspection, an annual exercise that has proven largely futile since 2009.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho (2nd left) and Pattaya Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay (2nd right), along with local officials, inspect the troublesome South Pattaya drainage canal, pointing out trouble spots. With parts of the canal intentionally blocked for personal gain, South Pattaya often floods during heavy rainfall. For the 4th straight year, officials are once again threatening to cite offenders and remove encroaching structures. Doubts remain whilst South Pattaya continues to flood.
As has been the case every year since, public officials found buildings, construction materials and trash blocking water flow in the canal and made threats to sue landowners and remove structures. Only once in four years, however, has the city actually carried through on any of its promises and threats.
This summer marked Sakchai’s first run at the problem and he said the canal only now has two or three true problems spots. In one case, he said, the property owner has been called into discuss the problem. In the other case, in property adjoining the Siam Bayshore Hotel, the property owner cannot be located.
Looking over the garbage that Thais continue to dump into the canal, which feeds directly into Pattaya Bay, both Sakchai and Verawat urged locals to dispose of trash properly. The deputy mayor noted the city has requested 27 million baht to clean and widen the canal.
One of the remaining trouble spots along the South Pattaya drainage canal, which catches debris and impedes water runoff during heavy rain, causing all of South Pattaya to flood.
