Thailand: Pattaya's annual struggle to stay above water
By Chaiyot Pupattanapong
Pattaya City municipality plans to ask the new cabinet to approve a 665 million baht flood prevention project which has been shelved for years due to repeated changes in government water management policy.
"Pattaya was intended to be at the centre of the government's flagship Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme, but the city suffers from chronic flash floods, which require urgent action to address," said Pattaya mayor, Sonthaya Khunpluem.
"If successful, Pattaya City will be secured from run-off coming from the east coast which bursts into the downtown area during the rainy season, affecting tourism and the city's businesses," he said.
The city wants to build a large reservoir to store 11 billion cubic metres on Soi Khao Noi, and eight water pumping stations that can drain water at 1.5 million cubic metres per second. The money will be also spent on a 1.5-kilometre long high-density polyethylene pipe along a road beside the railway track.
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