Park gives owner week to demolish resort -- or else

Park gives owner week to demolish resort -- or else

Authorities will demolish a luxury resort in Kanchanaburi for encroaching on Khao Laem National Park if the owner does not tear the buildings down within seven days.

Protected Areas Regional Office 3 (Ban Pong) director, Niphon Chamnongsirisak, and Khao Laem National Park chief, Tewin Meesap, along with 10 officials issued the warning in a letter posted in front of Phatsapada Resort in Thong Pha Phum district on Monday.

The letter orders the resort to demolish all 17 chalets which have encroached on the park within seven days effective from Monday. If the resort fails to comply, park officials will do it instead and charge the resort 200,000 baht in demolition costs.

Mr Nipon said the Khao Laem Ya National Park chief was told on July 27 that a former high-ranking military official encroached on the park by building a resort in a prohibited area.

The director said he was informed that Jarupha Detchinda, who had claimed to be the resort's owner, was a proxy of the former military official but the park was unable to investigate because the matter was beyond its power.

Previously, on Jan 24, 2018, the Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court sentenced Ms Jarupha to six months in jail and fined her 30,000 baht for the offence. She was also ordered to pay the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation 103,379 baht for causing environmental damage.

The Appeal Court upheld the six-month term but suspended it for two years, while the fine was cut to 10,000 baht.

The park posted the warning letter after learning Ms Jarupha had recently passed away. Responsibility for the resort was passed to her heirs who are now legally required to demolish it.

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