Pattaya's beach is to be widened to about 35 metres to prevent erosion and boost income from tourists.
Pattaya City's sand-fill project is expected to begin in October and will take around two years, said mayor Itthiphol Kunplome. To extend the three-km beachfront to the eventual 35-metre width, will take 36,000 cubic metres of sand at a cost of Bt430 million. The first 15 metres of the new beach would involve a sandbag wall to serve as an embankment, while the remaining 20 metres would be of sand. The new beachfront will stretch for 2.7-km and cover around 60 rai, stretching from North, Central to South Pattaya beaches, Itthiphol said.
When completed, the beach extension project is expected to revamp the image of Pattaya as a resort town with clean beaches and white sand, making it more attractive and have the potential of attracting 10 million tourists, as projected in the Asean Economic Community in 2015, Itthiphol said.
