A reader in Chalong alerted The Phuket News to the situation. “Where we live, someone has build a big tin building with toilets and a covered area for probably some kind of speedboat operation.
“But I can’t see speedboats coming in here, the water is too shallow. There are rumours that it may be for hovercrafts, which can ride over shallow banks.”
The reader, who lives close by, was particularly concerned about the noise: “A hovercraft makes 120 decibels of noise when taking off,” he said, also wondering whether it was legal to erect the building on government land.
However, Village Chief Kokkwai Sae-Ueng, explained that the land belongs to the community, not the state.
The village’s local council of elders was contacted by a private company based in Chalong, which wanted to rent the land for a couple of years and erect a building on it, where Korean tour groups could wait for speed boats and change their clothes. The rent would go to the community.
The building consists of a large open area under a roof. At the back are two rooms upstairs, two downstairs and three toilets.
“The rumor about the hovercraft is not true,” Mr Kokkwai said, adding that the project seems to have halted, with the building part-finished.
“I will have to discuss this with the leaders of the community and the company to see if they still want to go ahead.”
His assistant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the company (which both men declined to name) had sought a new base to pick up and drop off customers because Chalong Pier was too crowded.
“The company may have to build a 100-metre pontoon so that the tourists can walk out to the boats, because the water is really shallow.
“But no one from the company has contacted us recently.”