More trouble at Panason City in Phuket

WICHIT, PHUKET: Problems continue at the troubled Panason City housing project, with workmen this morning allegedly trying to bury seven houses under mounds of earth using three excavators, according to residents of nearby Ketkaew village.

Four of the houses were still occupied, 50-year-old local woman Yaowaluck Promsiri said.

The incident caused outrage among local residents, 30 of whom are understood to have gone to Phuket Provincial Hall today to demand an audience with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop.

The development has been the subject of numerous protests over the past year, with residents claiming the developers are trying to drive them out of their homes against their consent.

Two weeks ago a crowd of about 60 protesters gathered at Phuket Provincial Hall to demand that the governor step in to resolve the conflict.

For our previous report, click here.

The project owners claim a number of families are living on the 78-rai plot without title deeds and are thus trespassing on company land.

Mrs Yaowaluck, who has lived in a house in Ketkaew village with her husband and daughter for over 10 years, said she left her house this morning on a salaeng (motorcycle with illegal sidecar) to find her path blocked by a mound of dirt.

The dirt, which had been previously piled up elsewhere, was now covering seven local residents’ homes.

Mrs Yaowaluck said residents of Ketkaew village didn’t have any title deeds, but had residency contracts with the company that originally sold them the houses.

She claimed the Panason City project owners had agreed not to go ahead with any more work on the project until a scheduled meeting with local residents was held on November 30.

“Until then they shouldn’t do anything,” she said.

— Atchaa Khamlo