“I just returned from a morning of snorkeling at Kata Noi and it looks to me that the situation has been fixed! There are now 4 or 5 ‘beach chairs free zones’,” one local resident told The Phuket News.
“It also looks like they moved the chairs further away from the high water mark so there is plenty of room for beach towels in front of the chairs. And where there are chairs there are clear access paths between them,” he said.
“Somebody at the city [sic] has thought this through and executed it nicely,” the resident added.
Local officials were previously stumped with what to do about a sprawl of beach chair operators that spread, occupying more huge areas along Kata and Kata Noi beaches.
At Kata Noi, the usually quiet beach just south of Kata main beach, had beach chairs along the entire length of the sand.
Karon Mayor Jadet Wicharasorn last month told The Phuket News that he was aware of the surge in the number of beach chair operators now operating on the sands in his jurisdiction.
He also insisted that all the new operators setting up on the beach have never received permission from Karon Municipality.
“The 10% rule remains in effect, and I am fully aware of its guidelines. However, only 10% of the original businesses remain in the area, while the new businesses operating now have not received proper permission from Karon Municipality.” Mayor Jadet said.
“The 10% beach management rule limits vendors to using only 10% of the beach for businesses,” he confirmed.
“I’ve seen a lot of them myself. There are so many new businesses [operators] that have opened [on the beaches] that I can’t even give an exact number,” Mayor Jadet added.
Mayor Jadet assured that he was taking action, but also that he had no authority to take action himself, even as the local mayor. “I have already told all of them [the operators], and informed the Phuket Governor,” he said.
Since the ‘beach management rules’ were brought into effect in 2015, local municipalities no longer had the authority the regulate businesses on the beaches in Phuket. That responsibility was taken over by the Phuket office of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), the political arm of the Royal Thai Military, Mayor Jadet explained.
“Currently, all we [Karon Municipality] can do is wait for the Phuket ISOC to come and take action. Phuket ISOC, including the Navy, has not yet issued an order to proceed. Until we receive this order, we cannot do anything. Once the official order comes, we will be able to enforce the proposed plan.” Mayor Jadet added.