It will probably come as a surprise to only a very few that the Khunpluem sons won the recent Chonburi PAO and Pattaya Mayoral and Council elections so convincingly, giving the family virtually unopposed administrative control of the complete Eastern Seaboard and Thailand's main industrial zones.

It will be interesting to see what effects this will have, and whether such schemes as the Pattaya tram system and the free government schools for 12 years ever come to be. More interesting may be the plans for the 5 casinos, which the PM apparently gave the go-ahead to last month, in Pattaya, Phuket, Kon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Some time ago Kamnam Pho (Khunpluem Sr) offered to donate land for a racecourse in the Huay Yai area, which was never taken up, and the family still have large landholdings in the area; at the same time Ambassador City is ideally located for a casino and co-incidentally (?) could have been purpose-designed as one with an unusually high number of very large inter-connecting ball rooms, banqueting rooms, conference and meeting rooms, etc, and ex-PM Thaksin's son is believed to have bought up a large amount of surrounding land. Interesting ....

Equally interesting is the progress on Ocean 1, which was approved 2 years ago and is due to be completed in 2 more years. So far, despite reports that the specialist equipment had been brought here from Malaysia last year, the site appears to be anything but the hive of activity that could be expected and of the 91 floors planned there are still 91 to go. Interesting ....

Some people are too pessimistic.  

The splendid progress being made can be seen on the webcams operating 24 hours a day.

Those towers must be at least 3 floors high


http://www.ocean1tower.com/#home

Great camera sites....

Thanks for the link.

I wonder how long it will be before the RE agents involved make a run for the border?  

A hive of inactivity. I did see one guy sharpening a pencil.... Your investment might be in that hole.

bigben wrote:

I wonder how long it will be before the RE agents involved make a run for the border?  

Friends of Mr. Botting, no doubt.  Probably received a "best condo in the universe" award from his magazine before heading for the hills.

lonelywombat wrote:

Some people are too pessimistic.  

The splendid progress being made can be seen on the webcams operating 24 hours a day.

Those towers must be at least 3 floors high


http://www.ocean1tower.com/#home

LW..

I believe those TOWERS you refer to, are towers (much like a silo) to be used
in MIXING the CONCRETE - on-site - for the construction...
rather than having to truck in the concrete is huge trucks.

I believe ....that was planned as part of their environmental plans...
to reduce the wear and tear on Pattaya/Jomtien roads and mix all concrete on-site.

TJ

travelerjim, quite true. I drove past 2 days ago after I had been to the Immigration Office, so had no need to use their webcams - the cleanest building site I have ever seen! Funnily enough, fattman, I did not notice the hole or expected signs of deep piling at all. Maybe I blinked!

Quite how these mixing towers are going to reduce the wear and tear on the roads as planned eludes me, since the raw materials will still have to be trucked in in similar amounts to pre-mixed concrete. It does, however, sound good!

Gone Fishing wrote:

It will probably come as a surprise to only a very few that the Khunpluem sons won the recent Chonburi PAO and Pattaya Mayoral and Council elections so convincingly, giving the family virtually unopposed administrative control of the complete Eastern Seaboard and Thailand's main industrial zones.

It will be interesting to see what effects this will have, and whether such schemes as the Pattaya tram system and the free government schools for 12 years ever come to be. More interesting may be the plans for the 5 casinos, which the PM apparently gave the go-ahead to last month, in Pattaya, Phuket, Kon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Some time ago Kamnam Pho (Khunpluem Sr) offered to donate land for a racecourse in the Huay Yai area, which was never taken up, and the family still have large landholdings in the area; at the same time Ambassador City is ideally located for a casino and co-incidentally (?) could have been purpose-designed as one with an unusually high number of very large inter-connecting ball rooms, banqueting rooms, conference and meeting rooms, etc, and ex-PM Thaksin's son is believed to have bought up a large amount of surrounding land. Interesting ....

Equally interesting is the progress on Ocean 1, which was approved 2 years ago and is due to be completed in 2 more years. So far, despite reports that the specialist equipment had been brought here from Malaysia last year, the site appears to be anything but the hive of activity that could be expected and of the 91 floors planned there are still 91 to go. Interesting ....

Once again I caution everybody not to take seriously posts by Gone Fishing. Many "facts" he presented here are simply wrong. To the best of my knowledge Ocean towers are doing just fine.
The results of elections in Pattaya and more generally in Chonbury province are presented as sign of preservation of status quo. Absolutely wrong. Democrats  who swept all 8 parlamentary seats in Chonbury just several monthes ago
( and decisively defetead "the family") had a significant setback everywhere in the country in recent local elections.
In particular, they lost several key elections in the South (their stronghold) to local barrons. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
And my guesss is that the behavior of the fraction in parliament does not impress the people all over the country.
The things like casinos are far beyond control of local Pattaya administration. It will be decided on much higher level
and it will take some time before we see casinos in Thailand..

ikarus wrote:

Gone Fishing wrote:

It will probably come as a surprise to only a very few that the Khunpluem sons won the recent Chonburi PAO and Pattaya Mayoral and Council elections so convincingly, giving the family virtually unopposed administrative control of the complete Eastern Seaboard and Thailand's main industrial zones.

It will be interesting to see what effects this will have, and whether such schemes as the Pattaya tram system and the free government schools for 12 years ever come to be. More interesting may be the plans for the 5 casinos, which the PM apparently gave the go-ahead to last month, in Pattaya, Phuket, Kon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Some time ago Kamnam Pho (Khunpluem Sr) offered to donate land for a racecourse in the Huay Yai area, which was never taken up, and the family still have large landholdings in the area; at the same time Ambassador City is ideally located for a casino and co-incidentally (?) could have been purpose-designed as one with an unusually high number of very large inter-connecting ball rooms, banqueting rooms, conference and meeting rooms, etc, and ex-PM Thaksin's son is believed to have bought up a large amount of surrounding land. Interesting ....

Equally interesting is the progress on Ocean 1, which was approved 2 years ago and is due to be completed in 2 more years. So far, despite reports that the specialist equipment had been brought here from Malaysia last year, the site appears to be anything but the hive of activity that could be expected and of the 91 floors planned there are still 91 to go. Interesting ....

Once again I caution everybody not to take seriously posts by Gone Fishing. Many "facts" he presented here are simply wrong. To the best of my knowledge Ocean towers are doing just fine.

His information was based on physical observation, supported by other posters view of the webcams. Where's your information come from?

ikarus wrote:

Gone Fishing wrote:

It will probably come as a surprise to only a very few that the Khunpluem sons won the recent Chonburi PAO and Pattaya Mayoral and Council elections so convincingly, giving the family virtually unopposed administrative control of the complete Eastern Seaboard and Thailand's main industrial zones.

It will be interesting to see what effects this will have, and whether such schemes as the Pattaya tram system and the free government schools for 12 years ever come to be. More interesting may be the plans for the 5 casinos, which the PM apparently gave the go-ahead to last month, in Pattaya, Phuket, Kon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Some time ago Kamnam Pho (Khunpluem Sr) offered to donate land for a racecourse in the Huay Yai area, which was never taken up, and the family still have large landholdings in the area; at the same time Ambassador City is ideally located for a casino and co-incidentally (?) could have been purpose-designed as one with an unusually high number of very large inter-connecting ball rooms, banqueting rooms, conference and meeting rooms, etc, and ex-PM Thaksin's son is believed to have bought up a large amount of surrounding land. Interesting ....

Equally interesting is the progress on Ocean 1, which was approved 2 years ago and is due to be completed in 2 more years. So far, despite reports that the specialist equipment had been brought here from Malaysia last year, the site appears to be anything but the hive of activity that could be expected and of the 91 floors planned there are still 91 to go. Interesting ....

Once again I caution everybody not to take seriously posts by Gone Fishing. Many "facts" he presented here are simply wrong. To the best of my knowledge Ocean towers are doing just fine.

They are doing fine? Really! Does that mean the first level has gone up since I was there an hour ago? GF's post seems pretty accurate to me and like mine, is based on physical observation.

As BTI asks of you: Where's your information come from?


George.

fattman wrote:

A hive of inactivity. I did see one guy sharpening a pencil.... Your investment might be in that hole.

HAHAHA

Well a small hole is better than no hole at all..... eh?

ikarus wrote:

Once again I caution everybody not to take seriously posts by Gone Fishing. Many "facts" he presented here are simply wrong. To the best of my knowledge Ocean towers are doing just fine.

Any comment would be superfluous!!

ikarus wrote:

The results of elections in Pattaya and more generally in Chonbury province are presented as sign of preservation of status quo. Absolutely wrong.

Actually they were presented as the results of the Chonburi PAO and Pattaya mayoral and council elections, nothing more.

ikarus wrote:

Democrats  who swept all 8 parlamentary seats in Chonbury just several monthes ago
( and decisively defetead "the family")

I cannot understand which "family" you are talking about, which was "decisively defetead"; no-one from the Khunpluem family stood for Parliament, as they opted to stand in the administrative elections instead.

ikarus wrote:

The things like casinos are far beyond control of local Pattaya administration.

The location and licencing of any entertainment venue and any possible casino comes directly under the Pattaya council's authority when and if casinos are approved.

Should I laugh - no, I was taught it was rude to mock the afflicted!!

I have no inside information but it does make alot of sense that Casinos could be approved and operating in Pattaya in 2 years. The area where the Ambassador City is would be perfect. There is a lot of vacant land in that area. A fast rail system was (is) planned to connect the new airport and Pattaya area. Also there is a regional airport Utapo close by which could easily handle charters and regular airline traffic directly into Thailand from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Russia, etc. I also noticed that there is a lot of road construction in that area although not as much building. Isn't there also a marina in that area which could could handle the $1,000,000 yachts? The harbor in Laam Chabon (sp??) is also able to accept cruise ships. Passengers will easily be able to take the rail into Pattaya from there if a fast passenger train line would be built. Pattaya already has a entertainment service base. And when I look and see all those Thai style apartments being built off every small soi in Pattaya, it appears that something must happen to house all the help that would be needed to service the large casinos.

If I was a betting man, I would bet (if given good odds) that it is much more likely to happen than not

I'm surprised to hear about a rail link being planned. Pattaya has been a major tourist destination for many long years and the rail link to Bangkok is virtually non-existent. In any other country a fast rail link would have been built years ago. Current railway development plans include upgraded dual tracks to handle cargo to and from Laem Chabang port, but I have not heard of any plans to build a passenger link to Pattaya.

[quote="lonelywombat"]Some people are too pessimistic.  

The splendid progress being made can be seen on the webcams operating 24 hours a day.

Those towers must be at least 3 floors high

travelerjim wrote:

I believe those TOWERS you refer to, are towers (much like a silo) to be used
in MIXING the CONCRETE - on-site - for the construction...
rather than having to truck in the concrete is huge trucks.

I believe ....that was planned as part of their environmental plans...
to reduce the wear and tear on Pattaya/Jomtien roads and mix all concrete on-site.

TJ

Now why did I not think of that, and little me living in an area of large building projects all on time.