PHUKET: Officials inspected a half-completed pier on Phuket's east coast yesterday and heard allegations that it was constructed without official permission.

Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak headed a delegation to inspect the pier and its surroundings at Baan Ko Ean, near the Yacht Haven marina.

Village chief Somnuk Pati said that he had sent a letter to the Damrungtam complaints office at Phuket Provincial Hall in Phuket City.

Although there has been a bamboo and timber pier on the site since 1971, the rebuild ''clearly changed the nature of the pier,'' he said.

There was no permit for construction. There was no environmental impact study. Construction had simply gone ahead, he said.

He was even more alarmed when he discovered that the original local owner of the pier had rented it to a private company and that a large restaurant was also part of the plan.

Vice Governor Somkiet said that a committee would look into the rights and wrongs of the structure.