PHUKET: It’s official: the postponement of the fee hike for foreigners visiting national parks in Thailand has been canceled. Thais will be allowed into the parks at the old price, ranging from as little as 5 baht to 20 baht, whereas foreigners (including foreigners resident in Thailand) will have to pay 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children. As a way to mollify tour and dive operators, a concessionary coupon scheme has been launched to allow the operators to take clients into the parks at the old rate. Discussions held at the Marine National Parks Division offices in Bangkok on Tuesday firmed up plans for the coupon system. The scheme, which threatens to be a bureaucratic nightmare, will work as follows: Coupons will be issued for all of Thailand’s national parks. The price will be 20 baht (10 baht for children) except for the Surin and Similans Marine National Parks, which will be priced at 40 baht (20 baht for children). Operators wishing to buy coupons must submit an application to join the scheme to the Marine National Parks Department of the RFD in Bangkok. The deadline for submission of applications will be the end of office hours on October 19. Upon receiving the application, the Marine National Parks Department (MNPD) will issue the operator with a receipt. As part of the application, operators will have to specify how many coupons they will need for the year up to September 30, 2001. They will not be allowed to buy more coupons later on if business is better than anticipated. If they buy fewer coupons than stated on the application, they risk being blacklisted by the RFD, and may be refused entry to the parks in the 2001-2002 high season. “It will take about a week to approve an application if all the documents are correct,” explained Suwan Prasertphon, senior officer at the MNPD. Once the application is approved, the operator will receive a confirmation fax or letter, following which he should again visit the MNPD, taking with him the fax or letter and the application receipt. He will then be required to fill in a second application form, this time to buy a specific number of coupons. K. Suwan explained that each coupon will be divided into three parts. The first part will be kept on file at the RFD. The tour companies will then have two parts: one as a receipt for the client and one to be handed over to the park officer on entry to the park. “Tour operators must provide us with a copy of the company chop to stamp the back of all three parts of the coupons in order to identify which companies bought them,” K. Suwan added. After a couple of days, once the civil servants have finished chopping the backs of the coupons, the operator may go back to the MNPD office for a third time to collect his coupons. The procedure must be repeated whenever the operator wishes to buy more coupons. Operators will not be obliged to buy the whole year’s allotment of coupons at once; they may spread purchases through the year. The coupons will be in books of 100. Each purchase will require the operator to fill in an application form, then return after a couple of days to pick up the coupons, duly chopped. “A company must buy [in the course of the year] exactly the same number of coupons as specified in the initial application form. Failing that, they will be recorded in a list of unreliable operators who may be denied entry to the parks next high season,” said K. Suwan. The chief of the Similan Islands Marine National Park, Wittaya Hongwiangchan, told the Gazette that each coupon will be valid for five nights/six days per entry, and will be good for one entry only. “So, in case of dive operators, if they want to visit the Similans for a couple of days, then go to the Surins, and then back to the Similans again, they will have to use three entry coupons per client,” he explained. Exceptions in the case of difficulties caused by bad weather will be considered by the chief of the park himself. K. Suwan said that he expects a meeting to be held in Phuket at the end of October between RFD officials – possibly including RFD chief Plodprasop Suraswadi – the Tourism Authority of Thailand and tour and dive operators, at which the details of the scheme will be explained and questions answered. To confirm details of requirements for applications, operators should call K. Suwan at the Marine National Parks Division of the RFD on (02) 5797047.

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page .

Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger .

KAMALA: Residents in Kamala were informed at a public hearing on July 7 that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report needed to build a 350-million-baht battery of underground wastewater treatment facilities is now complete.

The project only needs final approval from the provincial review board and funding to move forward.

Kamala Deputy Mayor Santi Auttasup chaired the final public hearing, required as part of the EIA review process.

The event was held at the offices of the Kamala Tambon Administration Organization (TAO). Also attending were Kamala TAO council members and about 20 local residents.

Explaining the 1.5-million-baht EIA report was Assoc Prof Sittichai Tantanasarit, who headed up the Kasetsart University consulting team that carried out the six-month study.

Kamala currently produces about 3,200 cubic meters (m ³ ) of wastewater a day but has no municipal wastewater treatment system, said Dr Sittichai.

The only wastewater treatment systems currently in operation in Kamala are at hotels, where they are mandated by law, the EIA report noted.

The EIA also highlighted the need for the project given the rising population in the area.

The wastewater project will cater to 5,802 registered residents, an estimated 5,000 more unregistered residents, and some 20,000 tourists on average, according to the researchers.

It was not explained how the tourist figure was arrived at, however.

Kamala has just 1,821 rooms in 34 accommodation establishments, according to the latest figures from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The actual population of Kamala is increasing 4.7% annually on average, according to the report. This was compared with the national average increase of 0.6% a year and Phuket’s current population growth of 3.4% annually.

Unlike Patong, which has one large wastewater treatment facility, the plan for the Kamala system is for seven small treatment sites, all underground.

Units are proposed at the following locations:

“This underground system does not require the OrBorTor to acquire private land and it is easier to maintain than one large system,” Dr Sittichai said.

The plan calls for all seven units to be completed within about three years from the start of construction.

Ninety percent of funding would come from either the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) financial stimulus package or through a loan from the Thai Environmental Corporation Foundation.

The remaining 10% would be funded by the Kamala OrBorTor .

Kamala Deputy Mayor Santi Auttasup said, “We have already applied to receive three budget allotments under Thai Khem Kaeng. The first is 350 million baht for this wastewater system. There is also 400 million baht for a water reservoir to be built on Getnee Hill and 20 million baht for improvements to Klong Naka.

“If the EIA process is finished within this fiscal budget quarter [before Sept 30], we will append it to the budget application we have already filed in order to try and get funding under this year’s budget,” he said.

Although the villagers present all agreed with the project, some voiced concern about the prospect of foul, stinking odors emanating from the treatment facilities.

To this, Dr Sittichai explained that the centers will use ‘wet scrubbers’.

“It makes only a slight smell or no smell at all,” he said.

— Pimwara Choksakulpan

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page .

Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger .

Subeida’s house at one end of a long line of closely packed houses is marked by a roofing sheet torn on the sides and a damaged metal door with a stone behind it for support. Six years ago, 50 fishing families, including hers, were shifted out of their huts at Mathippuram, near the Vizhinjam fishing harbour, to this plot a kilometre away.

It was part of a rehabilitation plan under the Rajiv Awaz Yojana (RAY) housing project.

The promise was to complete the new flats at the site of their old huts within 15 months, during which time they would stay in the rehabilitation site constructed by the city Corporation.

However, they had to stay here for six years, with the Corporation paying their water and electricity bills. Sixty-four other families, who are also to get houses under RAY, are staying in rented houses in various parts of the coast. Now, the work on the flat complex, for 320 families in total, is nearing completion, with the keys expected to be handed over in two months.

According to Harbour ward councillor M. Nizamudeen, who stays near the rehabilitation camp, the delay was due to reluctance of a few families to shift out of the project site.

Reasons for delay

“Nine families refused to shift for three years. The entire site had to be cleared for work to begin. The police had to be brought in to make them move out. The work on the flats will probably take one more month. A shed for keeping fishing implements also has to be completed. The families will be able to shift by April or May,” says Mr. Nizamudeen.

An official handling the RAY project in the Corporation says that earlier Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms also proved a roadblock for the project, as it is located very close the sea.

1,032 families in all

“The RAY project in Mathippuram was envisaged to construct flats for 1,032 fisher families. In the first phase, houses were provided to 222 families. These are spread along the coast, with smaller housing blocks of four or five units each. In the second phase 320 families will get flats. Now, flats for 490 more families remain to be constructed under the project. We are preparing the beneficiary list. Priority will be for those living in temporary camps,” says the official.

Fund allotment

Under the RAY project, the Centre provides 50% of share of the funds for a house, the State government 30%, the Corporation 10% and the beneficiary, 10% of the funds. Some beneficiaries are struggling to arrange their share. The State government’s current housing project LIFE has done away with the beneficiary share.