Pattaya officials and soldiers began demolishing a string of illegal bars and bungalows on Cozy Beach for encroaching on public land and illegally pruning trees.
Banglamung District Chief Chakorn Kanjawattana and soldiers from the 14th Military Circle in Chonburi raided the area July 1 in an effort to bring order to the 1-kilometer beach off Kasetsin Road at the foot of Pratamnak Hill.
Officials found 18 vendors set up along the winding staircase used to access the beach, some of whom said they’ve been doing business there under umbrellas for 30 years. Speedboats were moored wherever they liked and, at the base of the foothill, small wooden buildings and shacks had been erected over a span of 100 meters of public property.
Workers begin taking down illegally built structures on Cosy Beach.
The operation on Cozy Beach is only the latest move by Thailand’s military government against encroachment on public land. From Phuket to Phi Phi, Hua Hin to Pattaya, military troops have come in – or forced local officials to act – against makeshift structures, beach umbrellas, jet skis and other private enterprises illegally profiting from public land.
In Pattaya, the military told Pattaya to bring order to its beaches and reorganize beach umbrella operations under the implied threat that if local officials didn’t act, the army would.
Cozy Beach, tucked away near a five-star resort and with minimal access, had escaped the long arm of the law until now.
While the operators of the umbrella-topped vendor stands opposed being evicted, saying working the beach was how they and their families earned a living for a generation, the same vendors were all too happy to point fingers at the owners of the illegal shacks, bungalows and bars.
Backed by “influential people”, the businesses flushed their untreated wastewater into the sea, cut back city trees as they liked and threatened any beach vendor who made a fuss about it, claimed vendor Surin Sawangroj, 45.
Chakorn said vendors under umbrellas will be reorganized and that the city government would take care of any future tree pruning. He also pledged to further investigate the wastewater issue.
