Long-delayed plans to rebuild Pattaya beach may finally get underway in December with a 430 million baht Marine Department project.
Visitors to Pattaya will get a wider beach next year when sand refilling is complete. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Somchai Sumanushajonkul, the department's deputy director-general, said Marine Construction Joint Venture Co was awarded a one-year contract to commence in December to refill and widen the beach to counter erosion that threatens to wipe out the Pattaya shoreline within five years.
Since 2012, Pattaya officials have announced start dates for the massive project three times, only to see delays.
The alarm about the drastic erosion of Pattaya beach first went up in January 2011 when researchers from Chulalongkorn University said erosion had shrunk the city's beachfront to as little as three metres wide. If nothing was done, the sand would be swept completely out to sea within five years, they warned.
Despite the dire warning, funding for the project - initially estimated at 600 million baht - has been delayed for nearly four years. Pattaya has performed two stop-gap refill projects told hold erosion and five-year deadline at bay.
Prof Thanawat Jarupongsakul of Chulalongkorn's Geology faculty, who has acted as lead consultant on the project since 2011, said Pattaya beach had become narrower each year with about 10,000 cu metres of sand swept away every year.
Prof Thanawat said that in 1952, Pattaya Beach covered 96,128 sq metres and was, on average, 35.6 metres wide. Erosion cut to 20.6m in 1967, 18.5m in 1974, 30.3m in 1996, 18.7m in 2002 and 3.5m in 2011.
He said about 360,000 cu metres of sand from Rayong estuary would be added into Pattaya beach, up from the initial estimate of 200,000 cu metres that would be needed. If the sand continued to be swept away by 10,000 cubic metres a year, more would be added in the next decade. Researchers originally estimated the next refill wouldn't be needed for 15 years.
The university's 2011 study said different quantities of sand would be needed for north Pattaya - the worst affected area - central and south Pattaya. Work would need to be done during the winter and rainy months, at which time currents shift to properly form the restored beach. He said the research shown that sand from a Rayong estuary had the closest properties as that in Pattaya.
Emergency-refill work was performed at the northernmost end of Pattaya beach in late 2012, adding sand to 193 metres of severely eroded beachfront while officials awaited funding for the larger project.
"This is not just a one-time project, as added sand would be swept away in the first year before reaching equal-balance. At the mean sea level, the beach width will be at 51 metres wide: 106m at low tide and 40m at high tide. However, more sand would be needed every 10-14 years," said Prof Thanawat.
The environmental impact assessment for the project is already complete and the Marine Department's Mr Somchai said there were no objections to the work from local residents. However, he said, beach vendors have asked authorities not to close all the beaches during the rebuilding.
Mr Somchai said the department was worried about unfinished work on the city's storm-drainage system, which badly needs upgrading and is the root of chronic flooding that, with even moderate rainfall, gouges huge tracts of sand out of the beachfront. The Marine Department has urged Pattaya officials to speed up the work, according to Prachachat newspaper.
Earlier this month Pattaya officials announced plans to use 170 million baht of the 600 million baht originally requested for the beach-refill project to install four new, larger drainage pipelines at four points Beach Road. The pipelines would be laid in two phases, with a 60 million baht first-phase set to begin immediately.
Once completed, the project would funnel storm runoff from eastside communities into a network of pipes leading offshore, preventing damage to the beach.