Marine Department on Phase 2 of widening Pattaya’s Jomtien beach

Thailand’s Marine Department is in its second phase of widening Pattaya’s Jomtien Beach. The department said the beach’s width is expected to increase to an average of 50 metres after the project is finished.

The project aims to fight coastal erosion at the beach, as well as woo more tourists to Pattaya, Nation Thailand reported. Now that Covid-19 restrictions have eased, the department expects the number of Thai and foreign visitors in Pattaya to rise.

Officials have been working on widening Jomtien beach for years. Many of the earlier efforts and investments were washed back into the Gulf of Thailand following monsoonal rains. Back in 2018, a number of rain storms washed away millions of baht worth of sand and reclamation works.

Much of the mostly low-lying beach along Beach Road suffered constant inundation and erosion from storm run-off flowing across the road and then taking some of the new sand out to sea with it. The water was cutting channels into the newly replaced sand areas and wild grass and moss were starting to grow there instead.

But by June 2019 the eight-year work was finally complete.

In April 2022, Songkran crowds flocked to a new improved, wider, and better Jomtien Beach. Nearly a kilometre of Jomtien Beach was wider and ‘sandier’ than in the past, attracting beachgoers and their cameras, to the improved beachside resource. The Songkran break was a perfect time for tourists to flock to the beach.

In May 2022, the Na Jomtien municipality mayor said authorities were planning several more fixes to the beach. The mayor, Rapeepan Rattanakluang, said authorities planned to revamp the deteriorated footpath, as well as the road surfacing. She noted, however, that a timeline for these goals was not yet “set in stone”.

Jomtien Beach is located about 3 kilometres south of the main party area. It is the site of high-rise condominiums, beachside hotels, beaches, and restaurants.