Rawai Beach vendors evicted

RAWAI: Provincial officials today evicted some 20 stall owners from the Rawai beachfront in a swift conclusion to a long-drawn-out battle to clean up the view. Using an excavator, the eviction crew, led by Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura, took a matter of hours to clear the illegal shops, in stark contrast with almost two years of promises by the Rawai Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) to clear away the ramshackle structures. After workers cleaned away the debris, it was as if the restaurants and other small businesses had never been there. One business – the popular Nikita’s Bar – was allowed to stay put. Arun Soros, Chairman of the Rawai OrBorTor, told the Gazette that it, too, would have to be demolished soon, though he could not give a date. The owners of Nikita’s declined to comment. Nikita’s did not escape entirely unscathed. Part of its roof was demolished because it was overhanging the road. Fourteen Rawai families were allowed to re-establish their businesses in a special area next to the OrBorTor offices, at the far southwest end of the beach. K. Arun said that all the people evicted had expected it to happen for a long time, so there had been no protests, even from the operations that were closed for good.