RAYONG - The chief of the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park has given the owners of the Rayong Resort 30 days to demolish their pier, which stretches about 380m into the sea.
The Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet National Park has given the owners of Rayong Resort 30 days to demolish the 380-metre-long pier they built. (Photo by Jumphon Nikhomrak)
Sumate Saithong said on Tuesday he wrote to the resort a week ago raising concerns about the pier, which he says is an illegal structure.
He says if the resort refuses to demolish it, the department overseeing national parks may pull it down itself.
Mr Sumate said the owners had failed to meet him within the deadline he had given them, so he is now preparing to take the next step. The resort is in tambon Phe of Muang district. Mr Sumate says the pier encroaches into the sea, which comes under the national park.
The park, part of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, is speeding up plans to retake land held illegally by investors and dismantle structures built illegally on park land nationwide following a National Council for Peace and Order push to retake encroached public land across the country.
Mr Sumate said the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet park informed the resort's owners on Nov 3 last year they had violated Section 22 of the National Park Act by illegally building and extending the pier.
He asked the owners to meet him and explain why they had built the pier so far into the sea. "We gave them 30 days for an explanation and that time is now over,'' he said.
Sources say it is unclear how much use the resort makes of the pier. On the day this paper visited, no boats were moored to it, and no people could be seen on the structure.
Section 22 of the National Park Act authorises officials to order an offender to demolish or remove illegal structures. Expenses incurred must be borne by the offender.
"If the operators continues to ignore the park's order, I will report the matter to the department so it can deploy its forces to demolish the resort,'' he said.
Mr Sumate said the Rayong Resort's owners in 1985 sought permission from the Harbour Department under the Transport Ministry to build a pier which stretched about 110m into the sea.
It did not seek permission for the pier from the Royal Forest Department, which then oversaw the national park, he said.
Management of the national park was taken over by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as part of state sector reforms in 2002.
Responding to the park's threat, one of the resort's owners says it is prepared to take legal action to protect its asset.
Savit Bhotiwihok, an adviser to the Democrat Party Council and a former adviser to former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, is one of the resort's owners.
He told the Bangkok Post that he had received the letter but will not abide by the order to demolish the pier in 30 days.
Mr Savit said he had asked his lawyer on Monday to file a lawsuit with the Rayong Provincial Court against the department for dereliction of duty. He did not say on what grounds the department had failed to do its duty. However, he said the court accepted his case the same day he filed it.
Mr Savit did not go into further detail except to say he was ready to fight the case in court.