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In 2001 the
government set up a task force to come up with a cunning plan to make money
out of the still relatively undeveloped island of Koh Chang.
Developing Koh
Chang would lead give a big boost to the economy of the Trat region, and
also provide tourists who were getting a tad bored of hitting Samui or
Phuket for their beach holidays another option . . . an option that would be
for well-healed tourists only, none of those pesky backpacker types who
clutter up the place and stay in huts that cost less per night than a small
Heineken in a 5 star resort.
At the time
the task force was doing whatever task forces do when they have to come up
with a report to please their bosses, the governor of Trat politely asked
the P.M. if it wouldn't be a better idea to focus on increasing cross border
trade with Cambodia, which was, and will always pay a bigger role in the
local economy than that contributed by a few rich folks living it up on Koh
Chang. You can probably guess what the P.M.'s response was.
But there were
some savvy investors who beat the Bangkok politicians to some of the best
land on the island. The first entrepreneurs were businessmen who already
ran tourist related outfits in Pattaya & Rayong. It was the opening of a
car ferry service between the mainland and Koh Chang that led the way for
new investment in the island. Without a link to the outside world that was
convenient for middle class Bangkokians, resorts on the island would
struggle to make a profit.
"Bicycles will be the main form of transport on the island" Sakol
Sunet, president of Trat Tourist Association and a member of the
government's Koh Chang development committee - Jan 2002.
It didn't take
long for allegations of dodgy dealings to emerge. Less than three months
after the plans to develop Koh Chang into a paradise for the rich were
confirmed it came to light that members of the government, their families
and friends had been buying up land on the island for around 200,000 baht/rai.
Land prices quadrupled overnight as soon as the plans were made public and
now even land away from the beach can cost 7 million baht/rai or more in the
White Sand Beach & Klong Prao areas. Land near the beach starts from 5 million/rai
in the north of the island and can cost as much as 10 million/rai.
Once certain
members of the government had got the development bug there was no stopping
the flow bright ideas. The Forestry Department Chief, who is responsible
for the Koh Chang National Park, put forward a plan to invest 4 billion baht
to turn Koh Chang, Koh Kood and selected other islands into a "Lost World"
where visitors could go back in time and gawp at locals doing traditional
upcountry activities such as fishing and, presumably, selling souvenir
T-shirts emblazoned with elephant and "Oriental Eden of the East"
™ logos .
I'm not too sure how the locals would react to being told that they would
now become exhibits in a living museum and would be actively discouraged
from setting up their own doing their own tourist related businesses as they
wouldn't be able to do it to the standard the hundreds of thousands of jet
setters due to arrive on the island would expect.
"Tourists with lots of money will enhance Koh Chang's economy. It will
also give Koh Chang a unique selling point. It will be totally unlike Koh
Samui where backpackers are everywhere." PM's Office Minister Somsak
Thapsutin - June 2002
Gambling is
illegal in Thailand, except for the government lottery which doesn't count
as gambling because skill and divine intervention, not luck, are all that
are required to predict the correct numbers. However just over the border
in Cambodia a dozen large casinos opened their doors between 2000 and 2002.
As the border is only a few hours drive from Bangkok this meant that high
rollers, the type that should be spending their cash in Thailand. If only
Thailand had a casino . . .
Hey why not
give the guys who run Sun City a call, for no other reason than to say "Hi",
of course, as you can't build a casino if gambling is illegal. Turns out
that Sun City were interested in building something resembling a casino, but
obviously not one, on Koh Kradad, a privately owned island just off Koh mak.
Although noting has been set in stone it appears that Thailand's first
casino will be on Koh Kradad, nothing will be announced officially until
after the 2005 general election, which will also act as a referendum on
whether gambling should be legalised in Thailand.
And so 2003
rolled around and Bangkok Airways began flying virtually empty planes into
it's brand spanking new Trat mini-airport, about 20km from the ferry
terminals to Koh Chang. About 20 major resorts were constructed costing in
the region of a billion baht or so. Despite all this tourist numbers didn't
shoot up overnight as the government had predicted and the desirable
Samsonite lugging visitors were still easily outnumbered by unwashed
primitives who shunned aircon rooms to live in huts many of which lacked
running water. Not quite what was envisaged.
The first
signs that one of Thailand's & S.E. Asia's largest conglomerates, the C.P.
Group, had bought up large tracts of land also began the be evident with the
opening of 7-11s on the island and a couple of CP run hotels just for
starters. Construction of the island's first two luxury resorts, Aiyapura
and Panviman hotels was completed and plans for several more were approved.
Large package tour hotels were also started to be built, these include the
Amari hotel on Klong Prao - which, allegedly, is owned by people on very
good terms with the P.M as is the Aiaypura. However, backpackers who frown
at the idea of handing over money for a night's accommodation if it goes
into the hands of a politician or super rich guy, rather than a small
businessman or local family, should remember that more than a handful of
backpacker resorts on the island are now owned by this section of high
society - especially those on Lonely Beach.
The pace of
change shows no signs of running out of steam just yet. In 2004 it was
estimated that 1.5 billion baht would be spent on building new resorts,
followed by the same amount in 2005, and these are just the large hotel
projects. Also, the same type of attractions that took Phuket 20 years to
build are now being considered for Koh Chang. On Klong Prao beach an
aquarium is being constructed. The owners always refer to it as a hotel but
everyone in the area refers to it as the aquarium.
At the time of
writing this article, June 2004, the most recent bright idea for the island
was to ban all visitors from bringing cars onto the island beginning in
2007. "Let them use boats and electric trains" was the paraphrased
quote from Environment
Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, who just happens to be the same former
Forestry Dept Chief who had the "Lost World" idea a couple of years
earlier.
"In fact it'll be just like the Barardi advert from a few years back where
the well-chiseled, tanned, rich guy in white suit goes is having a night out
in the Bahamas and, come closing time, hops on a private speedboat to take
him back to his waterfront residence. Then the voiceover says 'Catching the
last bus home . . . . if you're drinking Bacardi.' What a legacy that would
be to leave." The Environment Minister probably didn't actually say this
to reporters but was almost certainly thinking it when he came up with the
'boats, not cars' idea.
The real problem with the governmental
bodies in charge of the Koh Chang plan is that they do not give much thought
to the real tourism-induced impacts or local people’s right to be involved
in how they want their island developed. Instead, they appear to focus
solely on the perceived desires of a tourist stereotype i.e. air conditioned
rooms, minibars, HBO, water taxis, hovercraft service to the island, a
museum island, a golf island plus the proposed casino island.
Oct 2004
update - As fate would have it the aforementioned Khun Plodprasop has now
been put in charge of running Koh Chang after being embroiled (not for the
first time) in an unproven corruption accusation this time involving a
hundred tigers which were exported from a private zoo to China for 'research
purposes'. Why the Chinese needed a hundred of them to do research on was
never fully explained. "Is that a big cat penis in your pocket or are
you just pleased to see me, comrade?" was definitely not how Plodprasop
greeted his Chinese counterpart.
All aboard the
gravy train. . . .
Part 2
Jan 2005 and
the face of the island is changing even more rapidly than I thought
possible. Roads appear to be the future. There's a new road being built at
the rear of Kai Bae. This is being done as the existing road through Kai
Bae actually belongs to Chang Park Resort and they plan to block the road
off at some unspecified future date. The start of the new road can be seen
near Klong Plu waterfall. Just as soon as a track across the island from
Than Mayom waterfall to Klong Plu waterfall was finished the local govt. has
approved plans for a road to follow almost the same route right through the
middle of the island. Should be scenic.
Down in the
south, the almost completed bicycle / motorbike route from Bangbao to
Salakphet will be widened to take two lanes of traffic. And over in the far
South East the route of a new road looping round the coastline from Hat
Yuthanavy to Salakkok has been drawn on a map currently adorning the wall of
the chief planning officer.
Not too far
away in the hamlet of Baan Jek Bae a new road is being built out into the
sea that be a small island will take visitors out to what used to be a small
island only accessible at low tide. From this vantage pint you'll have a
great view over all the bay - especially the land at the head of the bay
which is known locally as "Thaksin's land" the Thaksin may well be the P.M.
or it may just be Bob Thaksin, a migrant labourer from Isaan. Who knows?
But it'd be a cracking place to have a huge marina, yacht club and/or luxury
resort that's for sure.
Part 3
We're now into
the third quarter of 2005 and work on widening the road from White Sand
Beach down
to Klong Prao has begun . . . just in time for the start of high season.
How's that for timing?
However, the
real shocker in the 'permanent scar on the landscape' stakes is the huge
amount of roadside shop units 'hongtaews' that are being built down the west
coast road. The way things are going the whole length of the rod will be
lined with hastily built concrete units each housing a beachwear shop. It's
a real shame but it's not surprising. When it comes to any business idea or
type of development the best bet always seems to be to copy what your
neighbour is doing. Landowners see their neighbour build a few units and
rent them out and simply do the same. Shop owners see their neighbours
selling certain goods and sell the same.
The difference
between Asia and the West is that here, if you have a shop and you earn one
carrot a day, someone will open up an identical shop next to yours and now
you'll both earn half a carrot a day. In the West half a carrot a day isn't
enough to live on, but here people seem to be happy with that.
The one good
thing to come out of all the awful roadside development is that the few
remaining, quiet areas on the west coast which are off the main road and
free of souvenir shops seem more and more attractive. Fortunately, I live
in one of these areas :-)
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