Plan To Ban Cars On Koh Chang

[george]

Plan to ban cars on Koh Chang

Tourists will be urged to use boats, no new roads

Koh Chang is to be ruled off-limits to vehicles from the mainland from 2007, according to a Natural Resources and Environment Ministry plan revealed yesterday.

Environment Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said the plan would allow only local vehicles to traverse the tourist attraction in Trat province.

"Tourists will be barred from taking their vehicles to Koh Chang," he said.

He said no more roads would be built on the island under the Koh Chang Development Plan, as the authorities were hoping to encourage people to use boats as their main means of transport.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plans to visit Koh Change on Sunday.

Under his leadership, the government has floated a plan to develop Koh Chang into an international tourist destination on a par with Phuket.

Tourism Minister Sonthaya Kunplome said about Bt5 billion would be spent on infrastructure projects on the island, as well as on marketing the island as a tourist destination.

"We will urgently tackle the problems of garbage and limited water resources there," he said, after a meeting about Koh Chang's development chaired by Thaksin.

Sonthaya said the authorities would refrain from building a reservoir on the island, citing environmental concerns.

Plodprasop said land prices on Koh Chang had been increasing constantly in recent years, and a single rai could now fetch as much as Bt10million.

--The Nation 2004-04-29

[Khun Larry]

Plan to ban cars on Koh Chang

Tourists will be urged to use boats, no new roads

Under his leadership, the government has floated a plan to develop Koh Chang into an international tourist destination on a par with Phuket.

I'm sure boats will pollute more than cars.

Why would they use Phuket as a model. From what I see, Phuket gets worse every year.

[englishoak]

Guess who is building a large resort there right now? yup our cheerless leader. The place will be another Phuket. Not that I have anything against Phuket but isn't one enough? I have been going there for years and the charm is almost gone now. Ah well that's progress make the money and then ? make more money.

Stuff leaving anything as it was for a change. And did you know Kho Chang is now going to be declared part of a national park? AFTER they have changed it. Put in roads ATM's 7-11 Imported Elephants from the main land ,although Kho Chang is so named because of it's shape looking like a elephant, until now there has never been any on the Island. Once they have changed it they will preserve it for the masses and charge you 20bht - 200bht to set foot on the island

[penzman]

Good thing!

We were there last year for a week. We took the car to Koh Chang by ferry, got to the resort and it stayed in the parking lot for a week.

To leave the island, we had to wait 4 hours before we could get back on the ferry...Had we left the car on the mainland we could have simply walked onto the ferry with our luggage the first time it showed up.

I think the people who live on the island need the ferries more than we do.

Let the locals get the baht from taking you around.

I did not know about Mr Moonface building a resort out there.

[NedKelly]

It is trluy a shame whatis happenning in Koh Chang. I hop ethat the proper authorities can actually make positive changes to prevent the place becoming nother Koh Samui.

Some information in the previous posts is not quite correct. Koh Chang is already a Ntional Park and has been for some time. But no-one gets charged to go there fortunately. Also, my information is that mr Toxin has already built his hotel there. If it is the one I think it is, then he is personally responsible for destroying the environment as they have bulldozed loads of mangroves and attempted to bring in sand to make their own 'beach'. This hotel is situated on a small bay with no other resorts around it. There is no beach so they are trying to creat one........what a recipe for disaster !!! I have seen with my own eyes the piles of concrete and car tyres they are using to attempt to control nature. It's like a bunch of schoolkids damming a creek to cath tadpoles !! Idiots !

Having no cars on Koh Chang would be a good thing. But boat access should be limited to the piers and thenpeople can get local transport to their prospective hotels. This change will also mean that the hotels will make more money from transfers which they already provide all the way from the new airport.......funny about that hey !!

You've got to laugh at their greed inthe name of the environment. Sure no cars is great. But what about stopping the cutting down of trees, bulldozing of mountainsides etc etc......again I have seen with my own eyes, the beautiful sea turned to red like blood after rain which washed the newly disturbed soil down from a hillside......... they never learn do they !!

[Pi Sua]

Are the boats going to make the same noise as they make in Koh Pipi ?

If yes, what a wonderful holiday because this is never mentionned in the advertisings and I've always been amazed when some people said to me that they had a good time in Koh Pipi.

When I asked them about the noise, they always answer the same, " ah yes....yes, this is particularly annoying....from morning to evening....".

I never been to Koh Chang but for sure if it's going to be like Koh Pipi, I'll never go as I won't go back to Koh Pipi.

They just could adjust an exhaust pipe instead make the people exhausted.

[Mai Krap]

Has anyone commenting checked out the amounts of silt on the east side of the island,,,, We have mud flats and brown beaches mixed with volcanic lava type rocks,,,,,,,, The ferrys at this point combined with unregulated fishing "dragging nets over corral" and a wild west catch every fish on any boat off the mainland attitude is the biggest local issue,,,, Not to mention the destruction of mangroves to make shrimp factorys............

[chokrai]

My first trip to Thailand 7 years ago i spent 6 weeks on ko Chang,could see the way it was going then.I havent been back prefer to remember it as it was before BIG T got his hands on it.

[Mai Krap]

Not to mention the RAW SEWAGE being dumped right into the water at numerous places... This might be a good place to start...

[meadish_sweetball]

Yes, Ko Chang has major environmental problems. Not to be over-enthusiastic about Mr. T, but getting rid of the cars is a very good idea. I generally think the article contains good news.

The plan to make Ko Chang into another Phuket was announced by Thaksin over two years ago, and sure enough, it has been going downhill fast ever since. If they now start to realize they have to enforce a more rigid environmental policy - GREAT!

Went to Ko Chang three weeks ago, and did a snorkling trip, amongst other things. The people who arranged the trip did not speak one single word of English, and of course did not warn people about not touching or standing on the corals, so the Bangkok Thais happily took pictures of each other balancing on the reefs.

No warnings about the sea urchins either, which means three people stepped on them and got their feet full of spikes.

I explained to the trip leader that they must inform people, and she claimed to have done so in Thai, which was just a flat out lie - at least there was no public information. She then excused herself with that nobody on the boat spoke English... How kee niao can you be not to hire a single English speaking guide for five hours when they charged 700 baht per person, and the boat was full (100 persons).

[Mai Krap]

I dont have the awnser about cars on the island but I know more boats are not the awnser.... Boats stir up silt and silt kills coral... There are many boat operators now who go to the coral reefs and refuse to use morings and just throw an anchor right into the reef... There are few Boat operaters that give a damm about tomorow for the coral or repeat customers... Boat operators have to take the lead in keeping the water clean and the coral alive...

I asked a dive operator about spearfishing in the islands and was told no way,,, It is against the law,,, Yet night after night the sea is full of trawlers catching every species of fish with no size discrimination or aparent regaurd for the dwindiling fish stocks... Im not aware of the enforcement of any current fishing regulations... It seems a bit ludicrist that five guys on a boat with unlimeted tackle can catch unlimeted amounts of fish and do unlimeted amounts of damage yet it is deemed unacceptable that one guy with one spear catch one fish for dinner...

I doubt anyone driving from Bangkok would care to leave their luxery vehicle to ride jammed into a mini van with a suicidal driver,,, or ride in the back of a truck to their luxery acomidations.... There are no VIP, ELITE golf carts as of this posting...