Pattaya City has prioritised next year's budget spending on stimulating tourism and the local economy, said Pattaya City mayor Paramet Ngampichet.
The city has approved a budget worth 1.9 billion baht and Pattaya City executives, councillors and local government agencies met recently to set spending priorities.
The budget will kick in on Oct 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Mr Poramet said 1.6 billion baht of the total is earmarked for fixed expenses such as utility bills and salaries. The rest is left for investment and development projects.
Next year's budget will mainly go on restoring the pandemic-battered tourism sector and helping spur the local economy, according to the city mayor.
Tourism promotions, which such as the fireworks festival and Pattaya marathon, will be expanded with a jazz festival to attract more high-spending visitors.
The city will also undertake basic infrastructure projects to heighten its tourism appeal as a major destination serving the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
Mr Poramet, meanwhile, said the Pattaya City council has approved a budget of 336 million baht to resume long-delayed construction of the 20,000-seat National Eastern Sporting Stadium project.
The stadium project, which has suffered a 15-year delay, was halted as it was entering the second phase of construction. Bidding has opened to find a builder for the third phase.
The third phase will last up to 820 days. After that, a further budget will be sought.
He added if the stadium were to cater to world-class competitions, it would also need a separate practice field. Mr Poramet said he was confident the stadium project would be up and running during his tenure.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has inspected the project located on a 371 rai land in tambon Huai Yai of Bang Lamung district in Chon Buri. Work started in 2008 and should have been completed by 2017.
However, work has been abandoned by previous contractors. Pattaya City said several factors caused the delay, including the discovery of large boulders underground which forced a suspension to drilling work.
In 2020, the project experienced yet another setback amid a labour shortage triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The contractor left the job unfinished despite having been paid 143 million baht.
The Pattaya City confiscated the firm's guarantee worth 50 million baht placed as a condition for taking on the work. It is now suing the firm to reclaim the rest of the fund.