By The Phuket News:
Following visits from the team led by Damrong ‘the Demolisher’ Pidech, La Colline Villa Development Co is reported to have demolished temporary structures on land thought to be outside the boundaries of the project and inside the Sirinart Marine National Park.
Park chief Cheewapap Cheewatham said last Friday (August 31) that the investigation team from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants (DNP) had filed a complaint with Cherng Talay Police Station accusing La Colline of encroaching on nine rai of the national park.
The encroachment included an area of four rai being used for materials storage, and another five rai being used for a workers’ camp.
When the team went to re-examine the development site on Thursday last week, they found that the workers’ camp had been removed. The storage still remained, but officials said they believed the property developer would also demolish those structures soon.
The investigation into the legitimacy of the land papers underlying the development itself continues.
Mr Cheewapap said DNP officials have invited the French owner of a private villa next to Trisara and the owners of the Peninsula Spa & Resort at Nai Yang Beach to prove their innocence, after the DNP reported to police that the villa was built on encroached land and that Peninsula extended beyond the land papers.
Four other pieces of land claimed by Three Dolphins (Trisara), Central and City Development (West Sands), Landstate (an empty site next to Layan Beach Resort) and the Andaman White Beach Resort are still under investigation to see whether they have been built out beyond their boundaries.
Mr Cheewapap said four other pieces of land owned by Sureesamrit (Malaiwana), Pavilion Beach Resort Co (Imperial Adamas Resort) and Layan Phuket (Layan Beach Resort), and a plot owned “by an individual” next to the Peninsula Resort had been checked and were found not to encroach into the national park beyond the edge of the land shown on their land papers.
All 11 properties, however, are still under investigation to try to determine the legitimacy of their land papers. These complex investigations are expected to continue on past the September 15 deadline set by Mr Damrong.
This story was first published by The Phuket News and is republished as part of an editorial partnership between The Phuket News and PropertyGuru Group.
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