Pattaya is running out of time to meet its deadline to finish all road construction projects before Songkran.
Deputy Mayor Pattana Boonsawad paid a visit to demolished South Road April 7, where four different infrastructure projects are underway, leaving both the roadway and sidewalks torn up.
Pattaya police on March 22 had implored the city to complete all its construction projects by this coming weekend to minimize traffic congestion. In addition to the protracted projects on South Road, lanes on North Road also are impassible.
The main South Road project is the burying of power and communications wires by the Provincial Electricity Authority, which also is installing new underground power systems.
To minimize the number of times the road has to be opened, the Provincial Waterworks Authority is laying 400 meters of new drainage pipes and tap water distribution pipes. Meanwhile, CAT Telecom is reorganizing all its telephone and internet lines. Finally, city hall is rebuilding the roadway and sidewalks.
Pattana urged all the work crews to work at their fastest pace to meet the police deadline.
He noted that all four jobs are on schedule and that the contracts for each extend beyond Songkran, but he said city hall doesn’t want contractors to take all their allotted time and want the work done before the Thai New Year.
With only days left, that seems unlikely. A compromise may be for the contractors to reseal and repave South Road and stop work until after Songkran.
North Road, meanwhile, is being repaved to make up for shoddy workmanship the first time the PEA sealed holes in the road after finishing the wire-burying project there.
Pattana apologized to South Pattaya residents and businesses for the protracted construction and assured them the end was in sight.
