Pattaya to stink a little while longer

Pattaya residents and tourists will have to hold their noses for another six months amid delays in contracting a new trash collector.

Suthee Thabnonghee, the city’s Environment Office director, said on Wednesday the municipality had for now extended the contract of the existing garbage-collection firm for six more months, but its ageing trucks leak rancid fluids when compacting the waste and there could also be delays in collecting garbage in some areas.

“People will have to put up with this for a while, but the city will dispatch workers to clean up problem areas on request,” he said in response to complaints over the past month or two.

Suthee said the trash-collection contract, covering 70 per cent of the city and handling 250 tonnes of waste per day, had expired on October 31 after seven years.

The city has been trying to find a new contractor since 2016 but has been stymied over terms of reference and disqualified bidders.

There are now two separate concessions up for bids – one extending almost five years for trash collection and operating the Garbage Transfer Station and the other for almost three months covering garbage disposal.

The terms of reference have been redrafted and will soon be submitted to Chon Buri provincial authorities, Suthee said, opening the way for more bidding and the hiring of a new contractor in six months or less.

The Nation 

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