PHUKET: Lifeguards on the holiday island of Phuket are gaining some new towers - but there's concern about whether the towers will last more than one or two years at the most.
The new towers are going in at Karon Surin and Kata Noi beaches, places where previous towers have collapsed.
However, lifeguards are concerned that the new towers, if they are all built like the one at Surin on the sand, will quickly topple once the annual erosion of the monsoon season undermines the foundations.
''The tower is going in at Surin actually on the beach, not on the foreshore where the old tower was,'' said one lifeguard today. ''The old tower took many seasons to topple but it was safer back from the water's edge.''
The cost of 1.6 million baht is being met by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation, the PPAO tourism department spokesperson Nararit Touyon told Phuketwan.
''There will be three new towers and repairs to other towers at a cost of 300,000 baht,'' he said.
At Kata Noi, where lifeguard duties have been taken over by the Katathani Resort, the lifeguards are already using a smaller, mobile tower of the kind that can be transported along the beach as conditions change.
The new lifeguard tower going in there is in a fixed position, and may not prove as effective.
Contracts for the three new towers are to be signed off on October 2.
In recent years, the towers have been used more as places to store equipment rather than as a lookout.
The new towers are going in at Karon Surin and Kata Noi beaches, places where previous towers have collapsed.
However, lifeguards are concerned that the new towers, if they are all built like the one at Surin on the sand, will quickly topple once the annual erosion of the monsoon season undermines the foundations.
''The tower is going in at Surin actually on the beach, not on the foreshore where the old tower was,'' said one lifeguard today. ''The old tower took many seasons to topple but it was safer back from the water's edge.''
The cost of 1.6 million baht is being met by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation, the PPAO tourism department spokesperson Nararit Touyon told Phuketwan.
''There will be three new towers and repairs to other towers at a cost of 300,000 baht,'' he said.
At Kata Noi, where lifeguard duties have been taken over by the Katathani Resort, the lifeguards are already using a smaller, mobile tower of the kind that can be transported along the beach as conditions change.
The new lifeguard tower going in there is in a fixed position, and may not prove as effective.
Contracts for the three new towers are to be signed off on October 2.
In recent years, the towers have been used more as places to store equipment rather than as a lookout.
It is understandable that all fixed structure can not last longer than one year because the lifeguards' contracts is for one year only.
Also every year with a new tower to rebuild some decision-makers get their tea money as self rewards.
Posted by WhistleBlower on September 4, 2015 17:38