PHUKET: Ambitious plans to turn Phuket's five-star beachfront at Surin into a money-making facility for the local municipality have received a setback.
Cherng Talay Mayor Ma-Ann Samran recently set out his vision of what should happen at the Phuket beach in a letter to Thalang District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol.
The mayor believes that having the Cherng Talay Council in charge of the foreshore would be a progressive step towards restoring order.
However, Khun Veera told Phuketwan that the mayor's project was unlikely to succeed because the foreshore was public land and could not be used for profit-making, whether by private enterprise or by a local municipality.
''No law allows private businesses or a local municipality to derive financial benefit from a public area,'' Khun Veera said.
Thalang District approval would be the first hurdle in gaining permission for any major project at Surin beach. A project that gained Thalang's backing would then have to be approved by the Governor of Phuket.
Although one side of a long beachfront path has been cleared of illegal structures and sea vistas now make Surin even more appealing, private businesses continue to function all along the public foreshore at Surin beach.
According to sources, none of the surviving Surin premises are paying rent - because that would be illegal and probably bring the immediate arrest of those involved.
However, despite private profit-taking being involved, the remaining restaurants and beach clubs are enormously popular and give Surin beach its five-star flavor.
While there is understandable resentment about entrepreneurial profit-takers making money from public land, the undestroyed facilities give Surin an allure that would disappear if the military demolished all illegal structures, as has happened at other west coast beaches.
What's contradictory, though, is that while the future of the long row of businesses appears to still be up in the air more than 15 months after the military takeover, at least one large new beach club has been constructed at the southern end of the shorefront.
There are two segments to the existing buildings along the Surin foreshore, and both have a similar history.
After the 2004 tsunami, the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation built some concrete shells in a row at the southern end of the foreshore to assist locals to recover from the disaster while the Cherng Talay council build similar concrete shells in a row at the northern end of the beach.
In the years that followed, the businesses established in those ''shells'' proved so lucrative that outsiders rapidly became involved and the businesses expanded.
Strangely, Surin beach was not impacted in a substantial way by the tsunami, which merely caressed some beaches and killed scores at others.
The takeover by the military in May last year led to the destruction of illegal buildings on public seafront land on Phuket, the clearance of commerce from all beaches and the wrecking of illegal structures on the seaward side of a path that runs the length of Surin beach.
However, the future of the ''shells'' on the landward side has yet to be declared - even though the most recent additions and renovations clearly involve large investments on the part of private businesses.
Whatever profits that are now being derived clearly have little impact in assisting tsunami victims.
Yet destruction of the restaurants and beach clubs would end the appeal of Surin beach to tourists and probably reduce Phuket's income stream.
Mayor Ma-Ann's suggestion to Thalang District for the future of Surin beach involved destroying both the ''shells'' at the southern and northern ends of Surin, or keeping them both.
The approach of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation and Thailand's military government to the future of Surin beach's private enterprises have yet to be made plain.
Cherng Talay Mayor Ma-Ann Samran recently set out his vision of what should happen at the Phuket beach in a letter to Thalang District Chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol.
The mayor believes that having the Cherng Talay Council in charge of the foreshore would be a progressive step towards restoring order.
However, Khun Veera told Phuketwan that the mayor's project was unlikely to succeed because the foreshore was public land and could not be used for profit-making, whether by private enterprise or by a local municipality.
''No law allows private businesses or a local municipality to derive financial benefit from a public area,'' Khun Veera said.
Thalang District approval would be the first hurdle in gaining permission for any major project at Surin beach. A project that gained Thalang's backing would then have to be approved by the Governor of Phuket.
Although one side of a long beachfront path has been cleared of illegal structures and sea vistas now make Surin even more appealing, private businesses continue to function all along the public foreshore at Surin beach.
According to sources, none of the surviving Surin premises are paying rent - because that would be illegal and probably bring the immediate arrest of those involved.
However, despite private profit-taking being involved, the remaining restaurants and beach clubs are enormously popular and give Surin beach its five-star flavor.
While there is understandable resentment about entrepreneurial profit-takers making money from public land, the undestroyed facilities give Surin an allure that would disappear if the military demolished all illegal structures, as has happened at other west coast beaches.
What's contradictory, though, is that while the future of the long row of businesses appears to still be up in the air more than 15 months after the military takeover, at least one large new beach club has been constructed at the southern end of the shorefront.
There are two segments to the existing buildings along the Surin foreshore, and both have a similar history.
After the 2004 tsunami, the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation built some concrete shells in a row at the southern end of the foreshore to assist locals to recover from the disaster while the Cherng Talay council build similar concrete shells in a row at the northern end of the beach.
In the years that followed, the businesses established in those ''shells'' proved so lucrative that outsiders rapidly became involved and the businesses expanded.
Strangely, Surin beach was not impacted in a substantial way by the tsunami, which merely caressed some beaches and killed scores at others.
The takeover by the military in May last year led to the destruction of illegal buildings on public seafront land on Phuket, the clearance of commerce from all beaches and the wrecking of illegal structures on the seaward side of a path that runs the length of Surin beach.
However, the future of the ''shells'' on the landward side has yet to be declared - even though the most recent additions and renovations clearly involve large investments on the part of private businesses.
Whatever profits that are now being derived clearly have little impact in assisting tsunami victims.
Yet destruction of the restaurants and beach clubs would end the appeal of Surin beach to tourists and probably reduce Phuket's income stream.
Mayor Ma-Ann's suggestion to Thalang District for the future of Surin beach involved destroying both the ''shells'' at the southern and northern ends of Surin, or keeping them both.
The approach of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation and Thailand's military government to the future of Surin beach's private enterprises have yet to be made plain.
So, do you, or do you not support making money from public lands?
You justify your support of banning the beach vendors because of it, yet, this article infers that you support the remaining restaurants and beach club. You can't have it both ways.
Posted by Sir Burr on August 16, 2015 14:00
Editor Comment:
Any comment that begins with ''So . . .'' comes from someone trying to impose their views on us. No thanks. What you read into what we write is entirely your business, Sir Burr.