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Showdown on
Phuket: Mayor of
Patong Aims to Restore Sunbeds, Keep Jet-Skis
By Prasit Tarnsirisin and Alan Morison
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
PHUKET:
Patong Mayor Chalermlak Kebsub aims to keep the jet-skis and restore umbrellas and sunbeds to
Patong beach if she can, she revealed at a
Patong Council meeting today.
The mayor, elected just before the military cleared sunbeds, umbrellas and vendors from all of
Phuket's beaches, said that she believed her plan for beach zoning would work.
Under the plan, central
Patong beach would be divided up into a 500 metre zone for swimmers, a 300 metre zone for jet-skis, a 500 metre zone for swimmers, and a 300 metre zone for jet-skis.
Mayor Chalermlak said she intends to restore beach loungers and umbrellas to those sections of
Patong beach directly behind the 500 metre swimming zones.
Royal Thai Navy 3 Commander Vice Admiral Saiyan Prasongsomret,
Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong,
Phuket's mayors and district chiefs will be at Thursday's key meeting to discuss the future of jet-skis, umbrellas and sunbeds and vendors on
Phuket's beaches.
Governor Nisit told a meeting at
Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday that he intended to ask the Land Department whether it was possible for him to be given authority to restore sunbeds and umbrellas on
Phuket beaches.
Had the
Patong mayor taken the trouble to visit her local beach today, she would have seen swimmers in the water in the zones that are supposed to be exclusively for jet-skis.
She would have also seen the private umbrellas that more and more tourists are bringing to
Phuket's beaches these days - despite a wild tabloid newspaper rumor that they have been banned.
phuketwan.com/...beds-jet-skis-21435/