Just over a week ago a working group of more than 20 officials met as the first stage in setting up a Phuket Land Centre, which will theoretically be a central point to pull together all the government departments involved in land matters.
The centre will, it is hoped, solve many of the problems that arise from different offices having regulations that conflict.
The initiative comes on the orders of Deputy PM Chalerm Yubamrung, who last month set up a national Land Integration Management Committee (KorBorChor), with himself in the chair.
Provincial Land Centres, or SorPorTor, are currently being set up in all provinces, and will report to the KorBorChor.
The Phuket SorPorTor will have representatives from the Land Office, the Royal Forestry Office, the National Parks Office, the Public Works and Planning Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Natural Resources and Environment.
There will also be district-level equivalents in Muang, Kathu and Thalang districts, bringing together local government officers such as district officers (nai amphur), their deputies, municipal mayors, presidents of OrBorTor, village chiefs (Kamnan and Pu Yai Baan) and the chief of the district land office.
Chairing the meeting on November 8, Gov Maitree Intusut noted that the choice of people to serve on the various committees will depend on the local conditions.
Somyot Laochoo, the Land Officer who is in charge of setting up the centre and the district bodies, said that the first priority of the working group will be to map the areas that the various offices are responsible for to ensure management of the land for all departments is systematic.
Gov Maitree told officials to prepare maps at a scale of 1:4,000 by November 15. These will then be collated by Somdow Lohakij, chief technical officer at the Provincial Land Office.
Gov Maitree said that up to now when there have been problems with land involving more than one government department, and that there has often been a lack of cooperation. The SorPorTor will, it is hoped, change this.
What was not made clear at the meeting is how exactly the committee will work and what its responsibilities will be, but Phuket could certainly use some coordination on land matters.
The island has been subjected to a variety of land-related investigations by various government bodies over the past year. Some of these are on hold since the annual reassignments of top civil service and police officers at the end of September. The investigations include:
Sirinart Park: The investigations into encroachments into land within the borders of the Sirinart Marine National Park were initiated by Damrong Pidech, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).
Mr Damrong earned the nickname “the Demolisher” after he descended on the Wang Nam Khiew area on the southern edge of Khao Yai, Thailand’s biggest national park, in 2011, ordering the demolition of resorts and villas that encroached on the park. Several were, indeed, knocked down in nighttime raids.
His arrival in Phuket and his announcement that he would apply “the Wang Nam Khiew model” to Sirinart Park encroachments sent chills through the island’s property and resort industry as he and his teams quickly identified seven resorts and four property developments as possibly encroaching.
The DNP has filed a number of complaints with the police, backed with evidence of corruption, sometimes decades in the past, but all these cases can be expected to take years going through court hearings and appeals.
Mr Damrong retired at the end of September. The investigation has now been suspended indefinitely, and no successor to him has been named.
It has also been announced that the DNP will be absorbed into the Royal Forestry Department.
PACC probe: The Public Sector Anti Corruption Commission (PACC), headed by Inspector-General, Pol Col Dutsadee Arayawut, also descended on Phuket to look into cases of land papers allegedly being corruptly issued for pieces of real estate that actually belonged to the government.
The most desirable of these was 65 rai of hillside sloping down to Freedom Beach, south of Patong. Freedom Beach is arguably the last unspoiled large beach on Phuket because there is access to it only by sea; the hinterland is plain jungle.
An owner came forward, claiming to have land documents and demanding a Chanote so that it could be sold, for around B62 million per rai, or a tasty B4 billion total.
Col Dutsadee’s investigators eventually unearthed enough evidence of dirty dealings to recommend that the deeds be cancelled.
The PACC also examined two large pieces of land in the hills above Kathu that had simply been annexed by former vice-governors of Phuket. Cleared of trees they would have the vast sea views that are the wet dream of property developers, and could have been expected to fetch large sums if put on the market.
The PACC probe also lasered in on 200 rai of beachfront land in Karon, and a large slab of land on Koh Yao Yai that it said was virgin forest.
In August, Col Dusadee said the PACC had received information from its local network that deeds for more than 200 pieces of land on Phuket – 40 per cent of all the land parcels being investigated in the entire country – were issued corruptly.
“We didn’t believe at the beginning that the number would be that high,” said Col Dutsadee.
Col Dutsadee got a new job in drug enforcement at the end of September and neither his successor, Pol Col Pokpiboon Potranun, nor the PACC investigators have been seen in Phuket since then.
NACC probe: Other bits of Phuket have been under the microscope of the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
Its Commissioner, Wicha Mahakhun, revealed in July that 12,000 rai of land around Thailand was under investigation by the NACC.
Once again, Phuket had a disproportionately high share of the shonky land – 3,600 rai, or 30 per cent of the total. NACC officials blamed corruption for “the loss of half of Phuket’s national forests”.
Massive corruption: What most of these investigations have highlighted is the rampant corruption in government departments in Phuket, from land officials up to provincial governor level.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Chalerm’s new provincial land committees will amalgamate all the investigations effectively and bring some results, or simply add another layer to the already very complex cake.