Pattaya Today 1
Vol. 8 No. 21 16 - 31 July 2009
Volume 8, Issue 21
16 - 31 July 2009
Government Slashes Pattaya Budget
25 BAHT
Pattaya City Mayor, Khun Itthiphol Khunplome, was recently joined by fellow Pattaya Council Members, Government Officials, business owners and local residents, to welcome the Senate Tourism Committee, led by Mrs. Thanyarat Atchariyachai. This was an opportunity for interested parties to get together and discuss the present tourist crisis and its ramifications for the coming year. Tourism in the city, and indeed the whole of Thailand, has dropped an alarming amount over the last year, due to the closing of the main airport and political problems, the world economic collapse, and most recently, the outbreak of the A(H1N1) Virus. The most important item on the agenda was the Pattaya Budget, allocated from central government, which looks to be getting cut, instead of the increase needed. The meeting focused on the present budget for new projects, which will hopefully revive tourism to the area. Mayor Itthiphol explained that Pattaya has enjoyed
a year on year increase in tourism, until the last twelve months, around 6.5 million tourists were visiting the City each year, bringing billions of baht into the Kingdom. However, the rapid growth of the town brings its own problems, and it is imperative that the City Council plan ways to improve, and maintain, ongoing tourism development, by upgrading and replacing infrastructure. Present, important projects include lighting for the beach area, the completion of the new ‘Railway Road’, and the installation of wind turbines for the Koh Larn Island. With regards to public health, the town can already boast four private and government hospitals in the area together with numerous smaller clinics. Pattaya City Hall is committed to building
another hospital, in the heart of the city, with a cost in the region of 177 million baht. The City has recently finished construction of the 11th Pattaya Government School. To cater to the needs of the tourists, Pattaya can lay claim to over 700 hotels, 1,800 restaurants, 100 bank branches, 10 large department stores and 30 main tourist attractions within the city boundaries, making it a city which can cater to the individual requirements of all tourists. Mayor Itthiphol continued by explaining that even though the City is responsible for bringing in around 7 billion baht to the country,
the allocation from central government, is too small. Even with the huge amount of money generated by the city, the government only calculates its budget based on 200 baht for the population of the town, this does not include the 300,000 Thai residents who have not taken the trouble to register but still live, work, travel, make waste, etc. The state budget allocated to Pattaya for the year 2008 was at 1,700 million baht. However, in 2009, the budget has been reduced to 1,494 million baht, a decrease of 12 percent, with the expectation that in 2010, a further cut of 9.68 percent will bring the annual budget down to 1,350
million baht. A lowering of the budget, at a time when the city needs to invest to attract back the tourists, is making the completion of many important projects impossible.
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