PHUKET: A one-billion baht wave-breaker is being considered to prevent continued damage and erosion to the sea wall at Phuket's Surin beach. The public will hear all about it at a meeting next Wednesday.
Controversial ever since a Bangkok entertainment business tried to organise a two-night new year's party on the beach without telling anyone on Phuket, Surin continues to produce surprises.
According to Cherng Talay Mayor Ma-Ann Samran, credit for the wave-breaker idea belongs to Phuket's Governor, Maitree Intrusud, who is known to have an interest in environmental solutions.
The mayor, who oversees Surin, Bang Tao and Layan beaches, says that the enormous budget for the project has been set aside by the Town and Country Planning Department.
Research is needed, though, to decide whether the plan will work. Offshore wave-breakers usually disturb the prevailing currents and can deliver unwanted effects.
It's anticipated that this one would be 850 metres long.
Surin beach, where sunbeds and umbrellas and vendors have been cleared, is regularly hammered by monsoon weather that destroys the sea wall, undermining the shorefront path. Severe waves recently demolished the lifeguard tower.
Many of the beach clubs and restaurants are also still being demolished along the shorefront, having been determined as illegal. Mayor Ma-Ann said that some of the wrecking crews, looking for an instant solution, had dumped rubble where the sea wall has been destroyed.
Mayor Ma-Ann said the dumping had been stopped - but it probably means that high tides will mingle pieces of rubble with the sand at the southern end of the beach for weeks to come.
Conventional sea walls stand no chance against the kind of power unleashed by monsoon seas. On Australian beaches, the best answer to halting erosion has been found to be piles of large rocks.
The rocks absorb the power of the waves without moving noticeably, and without the loss of the shorefront. The rocks are hardly beautiful, but they are effective and may be just what Surin and other Phuket beaches need to stop the loss of precious shorefronts.
The public meeting at the Cherng Talay municipal offices starts at 1.30pm on Wednesday, September 24.
Controversial ever since a Bangkok entertainment business tried to organise a two-night new year's party on the beach without telling anyone on Phuket, Surin continues to produce surprises.
According to Cherng Talay Mayor Ma-Ann Samran, credit for the wave-breaker idea belongs to Phuket's Governor, Maitree Intrusud, who is known to have an interest in environmental solutions.
The mayor, who oversees Surin, Bang Tao and Layan beaches, says that the enormous budget for the project has been set aside by the Town and Country Planning Department.
Research is needed, though, to decide whether the plan will work. Offshore wave-breakers usually disturb the prevailing currents and can deliver unwanted effects.
It's anticipated that this one would be 850 metres long.
Surin beach, where sunbeds and umbrellas and vendors have been cleared, is regularly hammered by monsoon weather that destroys the sea wall, undermining the shorefront path. Severe waves recently demolished the lifeguard tower.
Many of the beach clubs and restaurants are also still being demolished along the shorefront, having been determined as illegal. Mayor Ma-Ann said that some of the wrecking crews, looking for an instant solution, had dumped rubble where the sea wall has been destroyed.
Mayor Ma-Ann said the dumping had been stopped - but it probably means that high tides will mingle pieces of rubble with the sand at the southern end of the beach for weeks to come.
Conventional sea walls stand no chance against the kind of power unleashed by monsoon seas. On Australian beaches, the best answer to halting erosion has been found to be piles of large rocks.
The rocks absorb the power of the waves without moving noticeably, and without the loss of the shorefront. The rocks are hardly beautiful, but they are effective and may be just what Surin and other Phuket beaches need to stop the loss of precious shorefronts.
The public meeting at the Cherng Talay municipal offices starts at 1.30pm on Wednesday, September 24.
An " interest" alright.. C'mon? 1 billion baht? Get the big rocks for a few hundred thousand including transport- but first clear out the rubble, or as much as possible as it will endanger beach goers for years not weeks.
BTW I followed truck from Bang tao and saw how a wetland on Pasak Soi 4 was filled in with the rubble, was there a EIA on this ?
Posted by The Mare Crisium on September 18, 2014 12:35