The Koh Samui tunnel – “it definitely had all the proper documentation”

The 84 metre tunnel, rediscovered last week by a foreign tourist visiting the north of Koh Samui, is starting to reveal more of its secrets.

This week island authorities announced they would prosecute the builders of the tunnel because they were unable to find any supporting documentation or permissions for the construction.

The Koh Samui land office could, however, confirm that the land either side of the tunnel, was properly titled and owned by the same entity – the Ban Thai Beach Company based in the British Virgin Islands.

The tunnel connects the beach at Ban Tai with a private road and undeveloped piece of forest land two hundred metres from the island’s main ring road in the Mae Nam district. It was earlier reported that the tunnel was part of an uncompleted hotel development.

The Thaiger has discovered that the tunnel was probably built around 2005 by the land owner who was seeking access to the land behind the hill because there was no direct access from the existing roads. So the tunnel would provide access to the 2nd property.

Our source has reveled that it was proposed to be a ‘grand entrance’ with a waterfall ‘gate’ in front of the tunnel that would open up to allow access through the tunnel and into the property behind.

It is not understood at this stage why the owner didn’t progress beyond the construction of the 3.5 x 3.5 metre tunnel.

Our source also said there were many professionals working on the project at the time and it was inconceivable that the tunnel could have proceeded without the proper permits and legal documentation. The source suggested it was far more likely to be a problem with the Koh Samui land office documentation systems rather than the professional design and legal team working on the development at the time.

Read more about the tunnel HERE.

And the Thai authorities’ response to the tunnel HERE.