Apichart Chitsue, one of the residents, said the problem had existed for around one year.
Another resident, who gave her name as Sama, said, “The smell gets just unbearable. We don’t know exactly where it comes from. It gets much worse when the weather is hot.”
A team of about 10 people from Siam Niramit, led by Deputy Managing Director Ms Chatchanok Wongthanaroj, listened to the complaints and then took the residents and reporters to inspect inside the Siam Niramit site where the smell might be emanating from.
Kuntapat Pisitkunanon, the residents’ representative on the Phuket Provincial Council, said after inspection, “Local residents have been affected for a long time. Maybe the water treatment system [in Siam Niramit] needs to be fixed. We found a pipe under the road that was broken, leaving water flowing across the road.
“Siam Niramit’s staff also showed us the final water clarifier in their water treatment system, which I think is the most likely source of the problem. So we are trying to find a solution, possibly a different kind of clarifier system. But I appreciate Siam Niramit’s concern”.
Sunti Pengnukroah, the attraction’s engineering manager said, “We don’t want to create negative effects on our neighbours. We always fix problems if we hear anything that reflects badly on us.
“We are looking for a contractor to fix the hole in the road. That should take about 10 days.”
But pinning down the source of the smell is proving difficult. During yesterday’s (May 27) inspection there was no smell, even when the lid was lifted off the underground water clarifier. So any changes to the clarifier system might not solve the problem.
“I need time to find out [what’s going wrong] and I will find the best way fix it as soon as possible,” Mr Sunti promised.