The contractor was given 30 days to remove the illegal parts of the building on Mar 6 after officials from Rawai Municipality inspected the site and found several parts had been built without permission.
“I have issued an order suspending all construction at the site and ordering the project owner to make the necessary corrections within 30 days,” Rawai Mayor Aroon Soros told The Phuket News after the site inspection discovered the illegal construction last month.
Officials had confirmed three specific breaches of the building permit.
“The first is the swimming pool overlooking the sea. The second is the balcony, and the third is a section that connects the buildings, which I had already order to be removed in 2017,” Mayor Aroon said. (See story here.)
The deadline for removing the illegal construction passed on Friday (Apr 5).
“The project owner came to meet at Rawai Municipality. I cannot remember on which date exactly, but it was before the 30 days expired,” Mayor Aroon told The Phuket News on Friday.
“I told he project owner to make the corrections. I explained that the balcony and the section connecting the buildings must be removed. However, I also explained that the owner could still submit an application with Rawai Municipality for construction of the swimming pool to be approved,” he added.
"The project owner left, saying that the section connecting the buildings will be removed. However, as of today (Apr 5), they still have not removed any of it yet. They said that this is because they must be careful when removing the parts in order to not affect the structure of the buildings.
"About the balcony that I also ordered to be removed, the project owner said that they would remove it after they finish removing the section connecting the buildings,” Mayor Aroon said.
“The project owner must now formally inform Rawai Municipality when the balcony and the section connecting the buildings have been removed, so Rawai Municipality staff can go check the site to approve the work,” he added.
While nothing has been done to abide by the order issued a month ago, Mayor Aroon on Friday also repeated that the swimming pool can stay – if a formal application is filed with Rawai Municipality.
Again, even that has still yet to be done.
“The project owner must submit an application to Rawai Municipality for construction of the swimming pool. If they do not ask for permission, I will order the swimming pool to be removed,” Mayor Aroon repeated.
However, this site is now under heightened scrutiny, Mayor Aroon assured.
“I have now ordered Rawai Municipality staff that they must go to check the site once a week. To check the progress made in removing the unapproved construction and to make sure no further illegal construction not approved in the building permit is done,” he said.