Officers arrested Prasit Popthong at 10:30am on Dec 21 when they found him excavating sand on Bang Tao Beach. Mr Prasit was taken to Cherng Talay Police Station for questioning and the backhoe was seized.
However, Cherng Talay Police Chief Col Serm Kwannimit has since declined to disclose in detail the ongoing police action in the case.
Asked what charges, if any, Mr Prasit was facing, Col Serm replied, “I cannot reveal that at this time as the case is still under investigation.”
Asked what action police were taking against Prayongsin Kanyotha Co Ltd, which was hired by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administrative Organisation (OrBorTor) to carry out the project, Col Serm curtly said, “If they want their backhoe back to continue the work, they will need to present the backhoe registration.”
Oddly, Col Serm made no mention of police needing to see any permit the company may have to operate the backhoe on the beach in order to carry out a government project.
However, Col Serm did confirm that he had informed the Phuket Marine Office of the incident.
To this Phuket Marine Office Director Surat Sirisaiyad told The Phuket News this week that he had no knowledge of the backhoe on Bang Tao Beach – despite The Phuket News receiving photos plainly showing Phuket Marine officials investigating the incident at Bang Tao Beach.
“I have not received any report about this case yet. Please ask police about their charge,” was all Mr Surat would say.
Mr Surat’s non-committed reaction to news of the Bang Tao beach excavation starkly contrasted his office’s heavy-handed crackdown on any beach construction in recent weeks.
Earlier this month the Phuket Marine Office ordered to a halt the construction of a government-built seawall in Karon to prevent beach erosion, while last month Mr Surat’s office stopped an artificial reef project at Tha Chat Chai and ordered the removal of a floating jetty at Kamala that already had permission from the local authority. (See stories here, here and here.)
In each case, Mr Surat’s officers, and Mr Surat himself, enounced that the Phuket Marine Office must be informed of – and give permission for – any beach construction.
In the Kamala floating jetty and Tha Chat Chai artificial reef cases, Mr Surat threatened legal action against the government-hired contractors for destroying natural resources.
Meanwhile, Cherng Talay OrBorTor Chief Administrative Office (Palad) Krichanut Suphantakij is unfazed by Mr Prasit’s arrest and the police seizure of the government-contracted backhoe.
“That part of the project to improve the wastewater-treatment system there is already complete,” he said.
“Anyway, although the backhoe was on public land, the operator was not excavating the sand for construction – he was placing blocks as part of the project,” he added.
The project taht the backhoe was used for nearly completes Phase I of the greater project to upgrade the wastewater-treatment facilities for Bang Tao and Surin beaches, Mr Krichanut explained.
“We have only about 10% of Phase I still to complete. There are only small jobs to complete, such as installing some more PVC pipes and the electrical system for the water pumps,” he said.
“Phase II is scheduled for completion on July 29, 2017, but we will need to carry out tests for 60 days before July 29 to make sure everything works according to plan.
“When the entire system is fully operational, it should solve the problems with wastewater in both the Surin Beach and Bang Tao Beach areas,” he added.
Only weeks ago did wastewater at Surin Beach, just south of Bang Tao, make headlines yet again, with black, sepid wastewater streaming onto the tourist-popular beach. (See story here.)
For years the beachfront vendors at Surin were blamed for the fetid wastewater pouring onto the sand. However, the flow of wastewater onto Surin Beach has continued despite Army-led demolition teams destroying all beachfront businesses at Surin in April this year. (See story here.)
Meanwhile, the issue of wastewater pouring onto Surin Beach presents a problem for local authorities as the beach has been selected an B800 million makeover to create “Rajabhakti Park” to honour the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Her Royal Highness Sirikit, who is now queen dowager of Thailand as she was the queen consort of King Bhumibol and is the mother of HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun. (See story here.)