PHUKET: Authorities appeared to be going slow in a corruption investigation centring on the luxury Eva Beach development on Phuket, Thailand's PBS televsion service has alleged in a news report.
The three-minute segment, which went to air last week, claimed that the Eva Beach project was erected much closer to the sea off Phuket's Chalong Bay than it should have been.
An attempt to establish which authorities had approved the construction had slowed, the PBS report said.
According to environmental laws, the Eva Beach development should have been built 20 metres back from the water's edge at high tide.
Footage screened in the PBS report showed the Eva development at low tide, well clear of the water, and at high tide.
With the tide in, the water lapped against a retaining wall along the property's shoreline, the PBS report said.
The water came about halfway up the wall - knee-deep, according to the reporter and the news footage. The 22 units at the Eva have been on sale for about 30 million baht each.
One year ago, Eva Managing Director Authanop Phankamnurd told the Phuket media that the project had won the approval of the Phuket Governor's Special Committee on the Environment, established by former Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob, as well as the Rawai municipal council.
He said the Eva project had suffered serious setbacks because of public claims that construction is too high and too close to the water's edge. The management had all the required paperwork, Phuket's media was told.
The investigation into who approved the project, being conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, had produced no result, the PBS report said.
The three-minute segment, which went to air last week, claimed that the Eva Beach project was erected much closer to the sea off Phuket's Chalong Bay than it should have been.
An attempt to establish which authorities had approved the construction had slowed, the PBS report said.
According to environmental laws, the Eva Beach development should have been built 20 metres back from the water's edge at high tide.
Footage screened in the PBS report showed the Eva development at low tide, well clear of the water, and at high tide.
With the tide in, the water lapped against a retaining wall along the property's shoreline, the PBS report said.
The water came about halfway up the wall - knee-deep, according to the reporter and the news footage. The 22 units at the Eva have been on sale for about 30 million baht each.
One year ago, Eva Managing Director Authanop Phankamnurd told the Phuket media that the project had won the approval of the Phuket Governor's Special Committee on the Environment, established by former Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob, as well as the Rawai municipal council.
He said the Eva project had suffered serious setbacks because of public claims that construction is too high and too close to the water's edge. The management had all the required paperwork, Phuket's media was told.
The investigation into who approved the project, being conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, had produced no result, the PBS report said.
The setback is not the only issue, the height and the density of the estate is also against regulations for zone one.
Posted by ekenly on May 21, 2013 19:23