PhiPhi still a shambles

[BuffHello]

Paradise without a plan: Foreign tourists are flocking back, but Phi Phi island remains in shambles

 

Published on November 12, 2005

 

Krabi?s Phi Phi island remains a picture of devastation more than 11 months after the tsunami struck, but even so, foreign tourists are returning for the high season. Lee Srisangad, a coordinator of Help International Phi Phi (Hi Phi Phi), said local investors who own hotels and resorts on Phi Phi had been hamstrung, unable to rebuild because they were waiting for a new city plan to be finalised by the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta).

 

Begun in January this year, the plan has been through two public hearings, but there is still conflict between locals living on the island and central government. And with the plan mired in disagreement, all plans to rebuild Phi Phi are on hold, said Lee. The government has asked that the power and water infrastructure be repaired, but that no one build anything on the island until the new plan is ready.

 

?We?ve had to help ourselves by rebuilding the power and water systems and some of the island?s facilities,? he said.

 

The early-warning system, considered the first priority to reinstate confidence among visitors to the island, is silent and manually operated ? it is also one of the oldest systems available today and was donated by the United Kingdom.

 

?After the conflict between Phi Phi people and Dasta, the government just forgot about rebuilding Phi Phi,? said Lee.

 

Rachane Vithesvitanusart, an adviser to the PP Princess Hotel and Resort, said his hotel was destroyed by the tsunami, leaving in its wake a Bt500-million repair bill.

 

But the company can?t undertake major reconstruction works now, because it?s waiting on the city plan.

 

?If we decided to rebuild now, but what we built didn?t meet Phi Phi?s new city plan, then we?d be facing the prospect of losing our investment again ? so we don?t dare rebuild fully now,? said Rachane.

 

He has, however, rebuilt 46 rooms from the former total of 200, and for his troubles is fully booked.

 

Phi Phi currently has only 1,500 rooms available, half of what was on offer before last year?s tsunami.

 

Prumjai Panchan, 45, who owned a small Thai restaurant that was wiped out by the tsunami, said the government had initially given her Bt20,000 and she had since been waiting for more funds to rebuild her restaurant.

 

She said he was reluctant to start building because of the sea of doubt surrounding the city plan. ?But I couldn?t wait for the government, I have to work for money to survive,? she said.

 

And so, after months in limbo, Prumjai in August decided to rebuild her restaurant in by borrowing money from Micro Credit, a credit co-op founded by Swedish people looking to extend a helping hand to those hit hard by the tsunami.

 

?My restaurant was completed in October and so I can open throughout the high season, which lasts until April next year. If I?d waited for the government, I might have starved to death,? she said.

 

?I couldn?t borrow money from a Thai bank, because they said Phi Phi was risky, but foreign funds provided an interest-free loan for my business. There?s a big difference between how you?re treated by a Thai bank, predominantly run by the government, and how foreigners deem whether a business deserves a chance or not,? she said.

 

Now there?s about 1,000 tourists visiting Phi Phi daily, but at least half of them are on day-trips, because there are no hotels, no resorts and minimal facilities.

 

Krabi Tourist Business Association president Ithilit Kinglak said the association had tried to discuss the delays with the provincial government, but there were long delays when it came to central government releasing funds.

 

The government, however, is going to start building a memorial to the victims of the tsunami this month and is adamant it will be completed before a year has passed since the tragedy.

 

The tsunami smashed into six southern provinces on December 26 last year.

 

Ithilit said the memorial would be the first real piece of construction since then.

 

Krabi Governor Somsak Kittithanakul said the government had approved a budget to build electrical infrastructure worth Bt623 million and had granted another Bt166 million for water supply, but the provincial government couldn?t spend the money now, because it had to wait for the new city plan from Dasta.

 

?We have a budget for necessary infrastructure on Phi Phi, but we can?t do anything until the city plan is complete,? he said.

 

Somsak said the provincial government intended to set up two early-warning system buildings on Phi Phi island before the end of the month.

 

?We?re trying to recover, but it?s taking time because some problems can only be solved by another office,? he said.

 

Somluck Srimalee

 

The Nation

 

Krabi

[chilli13]

Sad broken promises indeed. I was visiting on half day spedboat tour last month, but was kindly restricted to just being on a few beaches, so cant really comment if the whole islands are really that bad. Hope they get a fair masterplan likewise for khaolak

[limbo]

Last week I read in one of the English newspapers that Phi Phi is going to get radically changed.

 

Rather than in the current set up, where x Million Baht per year is made by a lot of small shops they want to turn Phi Phi into a high end upmarket resort place where there will be a lot less resorts and visitors but the annual income will triple fold.

 

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in this way.

[Nervous_Dog]

Often in the Thai press what starts out as a sad story is sometimes in fact someone rich trying to get richer

 

DOG

[torrenova]

I don't see that as a totally bad thing as the bottom end low life which made up a lot of the visitors hardly had enough baht to buy a beer.