Phuket

Chief departs Phuket with park encroachment raids

Published

7 years ago

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Chief departs Phuket with park encroachment raids | Thaiger

PHUKET: As his last major act as chief of Sirinath National Park, Cheewapap Cheewatham this morning led 50 officers on raids of businesses deemed to be illegally built on national park land near Nai Thon Beach.

“Seven new shops – six on the beach, one on the beachfront road – have been built without permission from Sirinath National Park and Sakoo Municipality,” Chief Cheewapap explained.

A total of 14 businesses have been granted permission to operate at the prime location on the condition that each business have no more than 12 tables and that no permanent structures are built.

Those 14 businesses have fully complied with their permits, Mr Cheewapap said.

“However, these seven new businesses have installed large buildings at the site, including toilets that connect directly to the sea. They are certainly illegal,” Mr Cheewapap said.

The seven operators were identified as Madagascar Reggae Beach Club, Baan Ra Tree Restaurant, Kafe Alladin, Yellow Cafe 2 restaurant, Aqua Divers company and two other unnamed shops that are still under construction.

“The owners have 90 days to remove their belongings. After that, DNP [Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation] officers will return and seize all properties found to be illegally on government land,” Mr Cheewapap said.

Complaints against all seven operators will be filed with the police for further action, he added.

Joining the raid was DNP Director Samak Donnapee.

“We will fight every case of encroachment to make sure we get all of Sirinath National Park back,” Mr Samak said.

“Even if business owners claim they have title deeds for the land where their businesses are located, we know that some corrupt government officials have been involved in illegally issuing land titles in the past. All such titles remain illegal.”

Mr Samak said that a total of 1,755 rai of Sirinath National Park has been encroached on.

“The raids today accounted for 185 rai, and the court has already ordered 500 rai of illegally occupied land to be vacated and returned to the park,” he said.

“The remaining land under encroachment is under legal process.”

Mr Cheewapap confirmed that he will present himself to the Royal Forest Department in Bangkok to start work on Thursday.

“I will oversee efforts to protect national parks throughout all of Thailand, while Director Samak will personally oversee the investigations into national park encroachment in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean I will no longer be looking into problems specifically in Phuket… Actually, I will be able to investigate encroachment and illegal logging in the Nakkerd Hills and Kamala Hills.”

Mr Cheewapap called on his successor, Kitiphat Tharapiban (story here), from Mae Ping National Park in Chiang Mai, to resist the temptation of lucrative bribes in his new post.

“I refused bribes from many people who offered me huge amounts of money to illegally build on park land. I hope the next chief does the same,” Chief Cheewapap said.

“To best protect Sirinath National Park, the new chief will need to have integrity, intelligence and courage to resist graft. He will also need to be clever enough to know which land is legal or illegal, and be brave enough to arrest all the bad people.”

— Saran Mitrarat

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News Categories: Phuket

Tourism

Phuket’s July Sandbox no-quarantine model “needs a major revamp”

Published

11 hours ago

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Tim Newton

Phuket’s July Sandbox no-quarantine model “needs a major revamp” | Thaiger

PHOTO: The monsoon waves are starting to hit Phuket's west coast

Thailand’s Sports and Tourism minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn is acknowledging that Phuket’s ‘Sandbox’ model for a no-quarantine re-opening in July will need “a major revamp”. As the Songkran travel bubble bursts and the monsoon season waves start to roll onto the island’s west coast beaches, Phuket’s scheduled July re-boot suddenly seems a long way off.

Minister Phiphat says he plans to meet with “all related agencies” this week. Apart from the latest national re-surge in new infections, Phuket has been unable to get its hands on sufficient vaccines to meed its deadline of 70% of the island vaccinated by July 1. Thailand’s limited supplies of the vaccine – including some 930,000 doses designated for Phuket – are being rerouted to other provinces as the government prioritises the limited supply.

“We are all concerned about the reopening timeline,” he was quoted in Bangkok Post.

But the Minister did acknowledge that, if the 70% vaccination level couldn’t be met, they may consider opening some areas of the island. Exactly how that would work hasn’t been revealed at this stage.

The minister also brought up the ongoing travel bubble negotiations and says he hadn’t heard back from some of the candidates with their reaction to the current outbreak.

Flights in and out of Phuket Airport’s international terminal have been extremely patchy and the flights from feeder tourist markets will need to co-operate with any re-opening plans.

Phuket, whilst suffering a rise in new infections, hasn’t been hit as hard as some of the other popular holiday provinces, like Chiang Mai, Chon Buri (Pattaya) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin).

This year’s Songkran was going to be a major stepping stone for the island’s recovery and many hotels, some who had opened especially to cater for Songkran holiday traffic, noted a lot of cancellations just prior to the break.

But some island hotels have still reported high occupancy rates over the past week. One Manager, who did not want his name published, said that their hotel was almost full with Thai patrons, most who had pre-paid for their flights and accommodation and decided to go ahead anyway.

Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, the president of the Phuket Tourist Association, says that they are opposed to any lockdown as it would cripple the island, with its tourist businesses already suffering greatly. He stated that 15% of people cancelled their Songkran bookings, while 30% had postponed their trips.

The Sports and Tourism Ministers is still in quarantine after having close contact with Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 2 weeks ago.

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Phuket begs Kolour attendees to come for Covid-19 testing

Published

1 day ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Neill Fronde

Phuket begs Kolour attendees to come for Covid-19 testing | Thaiger

FILE PHOTO: Kolour in the park was more pleasant in 2018 before Covid-19.

Health officials in Phuket put out a public statement this week compelling all foreigners who attended clubs and Kolour events to report for Covid-19 testing. As many might expect, the response has been lacklustre at best. Spreading the message around the foreigner and expat community in Phuket, the message is aimed at the multitudes of people, mostly foreign who attended Kolour and related events that turned into a Covid-19 superspreader event. Many foreigners have not come forward, much to health officials chagrin.

Online and on social media, foreigners and Thais shed light on why this urgent public health request is going largely unheeded. Foreigners fear the repercussions of coming forward, especially since Thailand is not allowing staying home or elsewhere in isolation if someone tests positive for Covid-19. Quarantine is mandatory, and with infection numbers exploding across the country, many fear the less-than-posh comforts of being quarantined in an emergency field hospital.

Cost is the other factor that likely is preventing foreigners from turning themselves in to be tested for Covid-19. While Phuket health officials may test people for free, anyone found infected with Covid-19 will be financially responsible for all the costs of their treatment and quarantine. Foreigners with limited financial resources, especially after a year of holing up in Thailand to ride out the Coronavirus, may resist reporting to authorities when they cannot afford the mandatory quarantine and medical treatment.

Perhaps recognizing this hesitation, the message includes a plea for all attendees to self-quarantine and self-monitor for any symptoms over the next week, even if they fail to report or test negative. The note also reminds everyone to wear masks in public at all times. The statement to the public also instructed anyone who attended any of the Covid-19 spreading nightlife events to report to the Acute Respiratory Infection Clinic area of Vachira General Hospital to receive a Covid-19 swab test.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions

Published

1 day ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Tim Newton

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | Thaiger

Three of Thailand’s biggest expat areas are seeing sharp rises in new infections, partly from pre-Songkran traffic. The Songkran holidays, now officially over (but will see many people taking today off and making a weekend Songkran extension), and the government says they are expecting to see a rise in the cases numbers reported in the popular holiday locations.

Chon Buri Public Health office says they now have a total of 910 infections since April 1. They have 103 new cases in the past 24 hours. Most new cases are in Bang Lamung district which includes Pattaya City with 47, Siracha with 12) & Chon buri City with 8.

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | News by Thaiger

Meanwhile Phuket has a total of 142 infections recorded on the island with the Governor still insisting there will be no need for a lockdown. Here’s a breakdown of the areas and the numbers of recorded infections so far (below).

Governor Narong announced that the Phuket Infectious Disease Control Committee won’t be implementing an official lockdown, but will “strictly raise the intensity of public health measures to counter the spread of Covid-19″.

“Everyone should wear a face mask, maintain social distancing, wash their hands frequently and install the Mor Chana app (available for free from App Store and Google Play Store).”

A meeting of the CCSA, chaired by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is expected to upgrade restrictions in red zone areas around the country, which includes Phuket and Pattaya. Read more about the latest red and orange zones HERE.

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | News by Thaiger

For Hua Hin expats, there’s been 100 new Covid-19 infections announced in Prachuap Khiri Khan in the past 24 hours, 75 cases from Hua Hin. This takes the total in the province since April 1 to 625. Hua Hin accounts for nearly 90% of the district’s total cases.