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Friday, March 29, 2024

Pattaya Mayor Talks About Walking Street’s Future

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According to Mayor Sontaya Kunplome, Pattaya is continuing to renovate and refurbish the Walking Street area, aiming to attract more tourists of all ages, both during the day and at night. He also denied lingering rumors of this world-famous street “breaking down”.

The mayor said: “A key part of our recent renovation of Pattaya Walking Street in South Pattaya involves the progress of removing overhead wires and cables and placing them underground. This construction work is now 80 percent complete. During the execution of this project, we have encountered many problems over the past year, mostly caused by old pipes and construction work under the street, not on planning documents. However, we managed to persevere and make progress.”

 “We have also received budgetary approval from the Pattaya City Council so that the sidewalks and road surfaces can now also undergo an overall renovation. Unfortunately, while moving cables underground, parts of the road have been damaged and some areas are in poor condition. Our plan is to refurbish and restore the sidewalk along the entire street, including full painting and new art design for the street to give the area a fresh, new look.”

 “We also continue to work on the water drainage system in the sea and have partnered with companies on the ocean side to improve their drainage. In addition, we have also started an extensive project on Second Road near Wat Chai and Walking Street that will extend the drainage pipes and general waterworks in the area.

Contrary to decades-old rumors, there are no plans to “break down” or demolish parts of Walking Street, we have spent a lot of money and infrastructure on these recent improvements to invest in the future of the area. We recently completed a difficult project connecting both the drain and the cabling under the former police box at the front of the Beach Road side of Walking Street. This area has been repaired, filled, and replaced. We have also very recently renovated and improved the main walking street signage.

We apologize for the inconvenience to traffic in the area, but we believe that the long-term benefits of this project outweigh the short-term traffic problems,” the mayor said.

“We are also planning to cover the Pattaya Walking Street with a retractable roof as we want to attract more tourists to the Walking Street both during the day and at night and also provide coverage during the rainy season. This project is currently in the final drafting process with the budget to be provided in the next fiscal year.

 “Walking Street’s long-term vision is to provide a world-class tourist area with restaurants, cafes, shops, and yes, nightlife and entertainment, coexisting.

With the Bali Hai pier nearby and ongoing improvements to this area also planned, we want this area to be lively both day and night as a destination for tourists returning (or going) to islands near the pier.

We continue to reassure the owners of Walking Street that despite the difficulties of the past two years related to Covid-19, we remain committed to the area and its historic importance to Pattaya and that there are no plans to destroy it. We strongly believe that this area will recover as Covid-19 restrictions are eased around business sectors such as tourism and nightlife.”

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