Work to bury overhead power and communications lines on Walking Street began Monday with work expected to continue through to next January.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome and Wichien Hengudomsub, manager for the Provincial Electricity Authority’s Pattaya division, watched as crews began the 22-kilovolt electrical upgrade scheduled for completion in January next year.
The 103-million-baht Walking Street project is the fourth of nine planned for Pattaya, with North, South and Central roads already completed or underway. Future projects will address wiring on Sukhumvit, Beach and Second roads, Soi Lengkee and Soi Buakhao, with some roads split into two projects.
The PEA previously said cables will be laid inside an unused 1.6-meter wide drainage pipe laid earlier by Pattaya City Hall. This will allow cables to be buried without ripping open some parts of Walking Street. They still need to get to those pipes, however, and on day one ripped up a sizeable chunk of the famous tourist thoroughfare.
Sidewalks will be demolished and Walking Street is currently closed to traffic.
When finished, the nightlife strip will have 41 new manholes, 100 electrical cabinets spaced 16 meters apart to provide even and consistent power to the neon-powered nightlife zone.
Sonthaya said the upgrade will make the electricity supply more stable, shorten outages and provide enough power for all the many Walking Street signs and businesses.
