Pattaya urban planners has announced a new scheme to widen the beach from the Dusit Resort to the old pier. The project consists of dumping 49 million baht worth of sand on the present beach. The city intends to experiment with a 100-metre swath of the strand before taking full action to create a more beautiful beach than the present bikini sunning area.
More beach. More people. More fun.
Jet ski operators have complained that this expansion will endanger their ability to weave through bathers at full speed, while umbrella owners whinge that they will have to carry their parasols further from the road.
My prediction is that the sand will be sucked into the sea and clogged the Bali Hai Pier, thus creating a dredging project for a deserving contractor.
No one has considered ripping out Beach Road and extending the beach to the sidewalk. But surely that suggestion will come at one point if the money carries its weight.
UPDATE
The project actually improved the beach, however during the recent rain storm the sewers overflowed and washed away about fifty meters of sand.
Mother Nature 1 Pattaya 0