Engineers cut new drainage trenches in two flood-inundated areas in East Pattaya while city hall waits for funding of two long-term flooding solutions.
Deputy Mayors Pattana Boonsawat and Banlue Kullavanijaya oversaw the work on the railway parallel road behind Wat Thamsamakee and behind Pattaya Floating Market Oct. 11. Work crews used a backhoe to dig a trench to allow water to flow from the area and cut grass impeding drainage.
The steps are only stopgaps while Pattaya waits for funding of two major water-management projects.
The first, the Khao Talo pumping station, is further along, with Pattaya hiring Koffer Joint Venture Co., to install six pumps capable of handling 0.75 cubic meters of water per second along with a 5,400-cu.-meter wastewater storage tank and pipelines to move the water to the Huay Yai Pumping Station.
Pattaya officials also are investigating the floating market, which filled in land next to the tourist attraction which caused the flooding.
The long-discussed drainage system for the railway road – which would include new pipes, culverts and traps – is at the same point it was three years ago: nowhere. Pattaya has requested 665 million baht under the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor project, but no funds have been approved.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said that while the city waits for the EEC money, he has ordered the Engineering Department to draw up a list of possible vendors and needed equipment, including eight new pumps for the project.
