– Pattaya Police Chief Pol. Col. Anek Sathongyu led officers onto Bali Hai pier in South Pattaya to keep order during a dispute over the use of the site.
– The goal was to stop a confrontation between officials and people with buildings and property on the public land while talks continue, and to keep the Koh Larn ferry moving for Thai and foreign passengers.
– The city has already posted notices telling private occupiers to clear public land this month entirely beside the unfinished Waterfront building.
– No arrests or clashes were reported from the deployment.
Pattaya: Pattaya City Police have put a large number of officers on Bali Hai pier after a dispute over who may use the ground there, with the Chief saying the job is to stop the argument turning violent while ferries keep running. This has to do with the city ordering what they call private encroachers off public land by the end of this month near the pier on the road leading to the lighthouse.
Pol. Col. Anek Sathongyu led the deployment at the tourist pier in South Pattaya. The station said the dispute is over the use of the area. Officers were told to hold the ground, watch for a face-off, keep traffic moving, and leave a channel for a legal settlement. They were also told to protect passengers boarding and leaving boats for Koh Larn. The station did not name the parties, and it reported no arrests.
The dispute sits on land the city has been trying to clear. At the September 29th council meeting, Mayor Poramese Ngampichet said notices had gone up telling private occupiers of public land beside the unfinished Waterfront condominium to leave, so the pier frontage can be tidied and brought under the law. One report of that meeting set the deadline at October 31st. A separate account said the Public Works Office and the legal team were told on September 28th to post notices requiring structures, vehicles, boats, and equipment off the public land by October 1st, working with Banglamung district. The two dates have not been reconciled in public. The Waterfront tower itself is a separate fight: the Land Department is still deciding whether its title was issued illegally over a public hillside and due to being too close to the ocean, and whether the unfinished 53-storey block must come down. This has been going on for twelve years.
Bali Hai is the main ferry point for Koh Larn, so a possible standoff there hits tourists directly. The city has other unfinished business at the pier. A new toilet block on the blue forecourt, restarted after the first contractor walked off, was about 35 percent done in mid-September and was set to be finished in October. In August the city suspended six staff and contractors over complaints that people in official-looking dress demanded 2,000 to 3,000 baht from tourists at the same lot without receipts:
The council discussion of the pier and the Waterfront notices is here: