Phuket beach vendors given 15 days to clear Tri Trang and Paradise Beach

PHUKET: Businesses encroaching on the sands at Phuket’s Tri Trang Beach and Paradise Beach on Thursday were given 15 days to tear down their illegal structures – or pay Navy officers to do it for them.

“We will check in every day. If it is not done by the deadline [August 7], I will have my officers take the structures down,” said Capt Petcharat Teanjan, deputy director of the Civil Affairs Division at the Third Naval Area Command.

“If my officers have to come take down the buildings, business owners will have to pay them a wage.”

Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada and Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsab joined officers from the Third Naval Area Command to check on the encroaching business on Thursday, following complaints of inaction filed by displaced Patong Beach vendors.

Business operators on Patong Beach were made to take down their structures on July 9 as part of the island-wide beach cleanup initiated by the National Council for Peace and Order (story here).

“Patong locals and beach vendors called me to complain about the fact that operators at Tri Trang Beach and Paradise Beach had not been ordered to tear down their buildings,” said Ms Chalermluck.

The White Box Restaurant was found to be encroaching on Kalim Beach* and will have to be removed, while the only items to be taken off Paradise Beach are umbrellas and beach chairs.

* The Gazette has confirmed that well-known White Box Restaurant on Kalim Beach, not Tri Trang Beach, is the one being targeted, while another complex on Tri Trang Beach has been ordered to be taken down. The error is regretted.

— Kritsada Muanhawong