CHON BURI — The Marine Department on Wednesday held a third public hearing on a proposal to reduce erosion and greatly improve Jomtien Beach near Pattaya.
The meeting, held at Baptist Conference Centre Pattaya on Jomtien Beach Road, was called to hear opinions from officials of various agencies, the public and all stakeholders about the department’s plans to solve beach erosion damaging the entire Jomtien beachfront, an environmental impact report and what was planned.
The department hired the Aquatic Resources Research Institute of Chulalongkorn University to make a feasibility study and draw up a master plan for the project.
At the previous public hearing, about 80% of local people were found to support the fifth of the six proposed plans submitted by the institute.
Thanawat Jaruwongsakul, the project’s head, said before attending the forum that Jomtien beach was facing severe erosion, losing 80,000 cubic metres of sand each year. The beach could vanish in 25 years if the problem was not solved.
The majority agreed with the plan to rebuild the beach with new sand and expand it to 35 metres wide . Breakwaters would be built at three spots and groynes at two places along the beach. A public park was planned, spreading over a distance of 1.6km near the beach.
The project would cost an estimated 995 million baht and take two years and four months to be completed. Sand refilling would start from Pattaya Park Hotel to Pak Khlong Na Jom Tien, a distance of 7km. The work would be done in stages of 200-metres each time to reduce the impact on tourism, Mr Thanawat said.