PHUKET: The experiment in restoring rented umbrellas to 10 percent of Phuket's beaches is likely to end unless Patong and other councils are able to enforce the rules.
Phuket's Governor Nisit Jansomwong did not like what he saw yesterday in an unannounced visit to Patong, the holiday island's most popular beach.
He told Patong Mayor Chalermlak Kebsub that the test of his compromise solution will fail unless neat rows of umbrellas can be achieved.
Mayor Chalermlak told Phuketwan that with the council's small staff numbers, controlling what happened on the local beach was ''not possible.''
''The governor said he would withdraw from the experiment of giving 10 percent of the beach over to umbrella renters,'' she said.
''He told me that what he saw at the beach was not beautiful.''
It's understood that Governor Nisit's concept was for tourists who bring their own umbrellas to the beach to be parked in neat rows in the designated 10 percent of the beach set aside for them.
Swimmers who visit most public beaches around the world with their personal umbrellas tend to like to plant their umbrellas where they wish.
Those that Phuketwan has spoken to have made the point that they do not wish to be confined to a small segment of the beach with other umbrella users, where they would inevitably become ''sitting ducks'' for scores of vendors who walk the beaches.
The military government of Thailand cleared all of Phuket's beaches and shorefronts of illegal commercial endeavors - especially umbrellas and sunbeds - soon after taking control of the country on May 22 last year.
Since then complaints by those who profited from the illegal activities have led to an attempted compromise.
Remarkably, no action has been taken against the dangerous jet-skis and parasails at Phuket's beaches. The machines, which should have been phased out years ago, have instead grown in number.
Tourists and residents are divided about whether Phuket beaches should have sunbeds under umbrellas. But three in every four people believe jet-skis should go, according to a local tabloid's poll that attracted 6000 responses.
Governor Nisit, still relatively new to the role, has not commented on jet-skis.
It seems to many observers that the undesirable business is being protected by influential people.
Phuket authorities agreed a decade ago that the seaborne machines should be phased out. The governor's predecessors, however, failed to keep that promise.
On the beach at Patong yesterday, Governor Nisit kept his focus on the umbrellas.
He spotted the large, traditional umbrellas, which are planted in the sand with a metal stake, and told Mayor Chalermlak that he did not approve of the stakes, or the large umbrellas.
The present arrangement devotes the key central section of Phuket's prime beach near Soi Bangla and Loma Park to an unordered splurge of umbrellas, with jet-skis in the water nearby.
It is believed the military wanted the beaches and the vista of the beaches clear of large umbrellas and sunbeds. The Patong compromise now blots the landscape with large umbrellas.
People who use them say that one problem is that without sunbeds, people laying on mats or towels beneath them tend to have sand kicked at them - accidentally or deliberately- by vendors and jet-ski salesmen.
For a time when swimmers were permitted to bring their own umbrellas and place them wherever they wished on the beaches at Patong, Surin, Kata, Karon and Kamala, commonsense appeared to have prevailed.
Now it's likely to be back to the drawing board.
While the Patong experiment appears to be failing, the mayors of Kata-Karon and Cherng Talay - which oversees Surin, Bag Tao and Layan beaches - were yesterday comparing notes and deciding on how to implement their interpretations of the governor's 10 percent suggestion.
Governor Nisit has attempted to push the councils to make a specialty of enforcing rules on the beaches they control.
However, as the need for the military clearances proved, the councils will always be stretched between the need to comply with the wishes of voters to make money from the beaches and the lack of ''enforcers.''
Phuketwan believes that the answer lies in creating an independent Phuket Beach Authority, committed to preserving and properly protecting Phuket's prime assets for future generations of Thais and tourists.
The Royal Thai Navy should be empowered to enforce the rules. Jet-skis, parasailers, and rented sunbeds with umbrellas should all be banned.
Phuket's Governor Nisit Jansomwong did not like what he saw yesterday in an unannounced visit to Patong, the holiday island's most popular beach.
He told Patong Mayor Chalermlak Kebsub that the test of his compromise solution will fail unless neat rows of umbrellas can be achieved.
Mayor Chalermlak told Phuketwan that with the council's small staff numbers, controlling what happened on the local beach was ''not possible.''
''The governor said he would withdraw from the experiment of giving 10 percent of the beach over to umbrella renters,'' she said.
''He told me that what he saw at the beach was not beautiful.''
It's understood that Governor Nisit's concept was for tourists who bring their own umbrellas to the beach to be parked in neat rows in the designated 10 percent of the beach set aside for them.
Swimmers who visit most public beaches around the world with their personal umbrellas tend to like to plant their umbrellas where they wish.
Those that Phuketwan has spoken to have made the point that they do not wish to be confined to a small segment of the beach with other umbrella users, where they would inevitably become ''sitting ducks'' for scores of vendors who walk the beaches.
The military government of Thailand cleared all of Phuket's beaches and shorefronts of illegal commercial endeavors - especially umbrellas and sunbeds - soon after taking control of the country on May 22 last year.
Since then complaints by those who profited from the illegal activities have led to an attempted compromise.
Remarkably, no action has been taken against the dangerous jet-skis and parasails at Phuket's beaches. The machines, which should have been phased out years ago, have instead grown in number.
Tourists and residents are divided about whether Phuket beaches should have sunbeds under umbrellas. But three in every four people believe jet-skis should go, according to a local tabloid's poll that attracted 6000 responses.
Governor Nisit, still relatively new to the role, has not commented on jet-skis.
It seems to many observers that the undesirable business is being protected by influential people.
Phuket authorities agreed a decade ago that the seaborne machines should be phased out. The governor's predecessors, however, failed to keep that promise.
On the beach at Patong yesterday, Governor Nisit kept his focus on the umbrellas.
He spotted the large, traditional umbrellas, which are planted in the sand with a metal stake, and told Mayor Chalermlak that he did not approve of the stakes, or the large umbrellas.
The present arrangement devotes the key central section of Phuket's prime beach near Soi Bangla and Loma Park to an unordered splurge of umbrellas, with jet-skis in the water nearby.
It is believed the military wanted the beaches and the vista of the beaches clear of large umbrellas and sunbeds. The Patong compromise now blots the landscape with large umbrellas.
People who use them say that one problem is that without sunbeds, people laying on mats or towels beneath them tend to have sand kicked at them - accidentally or deliberately- by vendors and jet-ski salesmen.
For a time when swimmers were permitted to bring their own umbrellas and place them wherever they wished on the beaches at Patong, Surin, Kata, Karon and Kamala, commonsense appeared to have prevailed.
Now it's likely to be back to the drawing board.
While the Patong experiment appears to be failing, the mayors of Kata-Karon and Cherng Talay - which oversees Surin, Bag Tao and Layan beaches - were yesterday comparing notes and deciding on how to implement their interpretations of the governor's 10 percent suggestion.
Governor Nisit has attempted to push the councils to make a specialty of enforcing rules on the beaches they control.
However, as the need for the military clearances proved, the councils will always be stretched between the need to comply with the wishes of voters to make money from the beaches and the lack of ''enforcers.''
Phuketwan believes that the answer lies in creating an independent Phuket Beach Authority, committed to preserving and properly protecting Phuket's prime assets for future generations of Thais and tourists.
The Royal Thai Navy should be empowered to enforce the rules. Jet-skis, parasailers, and rented sunbeds with umbrellas should all be banned.
Its a good job there ISN'T a public bus service at the moment- talk about 'get on the bus, get off the bus'. Does ANYONE in Gov't have a Scoobies as to what's is going on in Phuket?
Posted by Mister Ree on January 16, 2015 09:29