Post by tekmac on Jan 27, 2005 8:52:16 GMT -5
PHUKET, Thailand (21 Jan 2005) -- Thailand's Phuket island is emerging as the front line in a battle between a government bent on bringing natural beauty back to beaches, and vendors and developers keen on a return to the pre-tsunami situation.
Authorities have vowed they would spare no expense in bringing devastated areas back up to speed as quickly as possible.
But they have also demanded displacement of about 1,000 vendors who have plied the sands along Phuket, offering everything from sun loungers and umbrellas to scuba diving, jet skiis, massages, temporary tattoos, and fresh seafood.
Phuket's most famous arc of sand, Patong, looks refreshingly void of encroachment today. The PADI dive shops, beach umbrellas, food stalls, jet-ski rentals and other shops which made the beach more of an amusement park than a paradise holiday spot were all washed away.
Nearly a month after the killer waves, authorities have used the opportunity to try and bring a more natural look to the shoreline, banning many of the businesses that have dominated the beachfront for years.
Shops encroaching on Kamala beach -- all now damaged beyond repair from the December 26 tsunami -- would have to be torn down and moved at least 10 metres back, with vendors renting the space directly from the government.
"We are trying to rearrange the use of the beach by people working and living along the beach, especially the people who do their business there," Phuket governor Udomsak Asavarangkul told reporters a few days after he proposed the plan to Kamala villagers.
"We are also trying to relocate villagers whose houses have been destroyed."
The plan, commissioned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, was met with jeers. Hundreds of local vendors and villagers converged on the Kamala police station Tuesday to air their grievances.
The governor said he had told Kamala residents the new rules would turn encroachers into paying tenants, angering locals who stress that the government has waited until a catastrophe cleared the slate to express concern over the beachfront.
"Of course they are upset, but we need to rearrange things. People are living on public land," Udomsak said.
Kamala looks in large measure like a ghost town. The predominantly Muslim village was Phuket's hardest-hit area, with 72 people killed here. Just about every business within 500 metres of the coastline was damaged or destroyed.
The government has proposed moving affected families to a nearby park area and building homes for them for 100,000 baht (2,500 dollars) each. The community prefers to stay put.
"They want to make a village for us there, but it's too small. We can not live there and have no business," said Wiraiporn Koysakul, 34, who owns the damaged Kamala Coffee-house several metres from the beach.
"They don't want people to rebuild their destroyed homes and businesses. But we have lived here more than 100 years."
She and others encouraged the government to return to the drawing board to come up with a better plan.
But Kitti Phatanachinda, the vice president of the Phuket Tourist Association, threw his full support behind government efforts to clean up the beaches and clear public land of long-time encroachers.
"Now is a good chance for us to enforce the law and order, to give back nature to those who saved up so much money to come here," Kitti said.
Government needed to assert itself now, he added, or brace for a return to the way things were before the tsunami, when dozens of powerful local beach mafias controlled trade on the beach.
"We are selling nature here," he said. "Others are looking out for their limited interests."
Debates over development have swirled in other Thai disaster zones as well. In hardest-hit Phang Nga province, residents of Nam Khem village are reportedly refusing to move into new housing provided by the government.
In the tourist haven Phi Phi island, property owners are said to be clashing with authorities over whether to rebuild to the same degree on the tiny island or reduce the thicket of development.
Close to 220,000 people were killed around Indian Ocean coastlines when the tsunamis, triggered by a massive undersea quake off Indonesia, struck. More than 5,300 people died in Thailand.
SOURCE - AFP
A rather useful decision, I would say at least!!!!
Authorities have vowed they would spare no expense in bringing devastated areas back up to speed as quickly as possible.
But they have also demanded displacement of about 1,000 vendors who have plied the sands along Phuket, offering everything from sun loungers and umbrellas to scuba diving, jet skiis, massages, temporary tattoos, and fresh seafood.
Phuket's most famous arc of sand, Patong, looks refreshingly void of encroachment today. The PADI dive shops, beach umbrellas, food stalls, jet-ski rentals and other shops which made the beach more of an amusement park than a paradise holiday spot were all washed away.
Nearly a month after the killer waves, authorities have used the opportunity to try and bring a more natural look to the shoreline, banning many of the businesses that have dominated the beachfront for years.
Shops encroaching on Kamala beach -- all now damaged beyond repair from the December 26 tsunami -- would have to be torn down and moved at least 10 metres back, with vendors renting the space directly from the government.
"We are trying to rearrange the use of the beach by people working and living along the beach, especially the people who do their business there," Phuket governor Udomsak Asavarangkul told reporters a few days after he proposed the plan to Kamala villagers.
"We are also trying to relocate villagers whose houses have been destroyed."
The plan, commissioned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, was met with jeers. Hundreds of local vendors and villagers converged on the Kamala police station Tuesday to air their grievances.
The governor said he had told Kamala residents the new rules would turn encroachers into paying tenants, angering locals who stress that the government has waited until a catastrophe cleared the slate to express concern over the beachfront.
"Of course they are upset, but we need to rearrange things. People are living on public land," Udomsak said.
Kamala looks in large measure like a ghost town. The predominantly Muslim village was Phuket's hardest-hit area, with 72 people killed here. Just about every business within 500 metres of the coastline was damaged or destroyed.
The government has proposed moving affected families to a nearby park area and building homes for them for 100,000 baht (2,500 dollars) each. The community prefers to stay put.
"They want to make a village for us there, but it's too small. We can not live there and have no business," said Wiraiporn Koysakul, 34, who owns the damaged Kamala Coffee-house several metres from the beach.
"They don't want people to rebuild their destroyed homes and businesses. But we have lived here more than 100 years."
She and others encouraged the government to return to the drawing board to come up with a better plan.
But Kitti Phatanachinda, the vice president of the Phuket Tourist Association, threw his full support behind government efforts to clean up the beaches and clear public land of long-time encroachers.
"Now is a good chance for us to enforce the law and order, to give back nature to those who saved up so much money to come here," Kitti said.
Government needed to assert itself now, he added, or brace for a return to the way things were before the tsunami, when dozens of powerful local beach mafias controlled trade on the beach.
"We are selling nature here," he said. "Others are looking out for their limited interests."
Debates over development have swirled in other Thai disaster zones as well. In hardest-hit Phang Nga province, residents of Nam Khem village are reportedly refusing to move into new housing provided by the government.
In the tourist haven Phi Phi island, property owners are said to be clashing with authorities over whether to rebuild to the same degree on the tiny island or reduce the thicket of development.
Close to 220,000 people were killed around Indian Ocean coastlines when the tsunamis, triggered by a massive undersea quake off Indonesia, struck. More than 5,300 people died in Thailand.
SOURCE - AFP
A rather useful decision, I would say at least!!!!