KOH SAMUI — Officials continue the “Samui Model” operation to inspect illegal constructions on Koh Samui again, as they investigate a luxury villa that has appeared in the middle of a mountain, built on a steep slope in a red zone where construction is prohibited.
On August 22, officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, local Koh Samui and Surat Thani authorities, along with 4th Army Region officials, ISOC Region 4, and Bo Phut Police, inspected a luxury villa located in the Chaweng Noi mountain area, Bo Phut sub-district.
Major General Anusorn O-urai, Deputy Commander of the 4th Army Region, stated that ISOC Region 4 received complaints about the luxury villa project, which involves the construction of 7 buildings on steep terrain, suspected to be operated as a hotel. Upon arrival at the construction site, no project owner, caretaker, or construction contractor was found.
Initial slope inspections, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s announcement, revealed that 5 out of 7 buildings are on sloped areas. One building is on a slope exceeding 50%, which is a no-construction zone, and 4 buildings are on slopes of 35-50%, where construction is limited to 6 meters in height as per law.
The working group will further investigate whether land rights documents were issued over public waterways. Meanwhile, Koh Samui district officials checked the e-DOPA License and found no information on hotel business permits or non-hotel accommodation notifications.
Colonel Dusit Ketsornkaew, head of the state land encroachment investigation and problem-solving team of ISOC Region 4, said that while they were monitoring the situation, construction workers were continuously brought in to work. However, on the day of inspection, no workers or project officials were present, making it impossible to conduct any checks.
This suggests that some government officials might be informing these investor groups, which they have long known to be Chinese investors.
He added that the project has 3-4 story buildings, which appears to be illegal. They will ask Koh Samui City Municipality to investigate how building permits were issued, especially for the villa in the red zone where construction is prohibited.
Previously, on August 8, this inspection team, along with police from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division, civil engineers from Surat Thani Provincial Public Works and Town & Country Planning Office, and Koh Samui City Municipality, supervised the demolition of two buildings on steep terrain in Chaweng Noi mountain, Bo Phut sub-district, Surat Thani province, which violated the Building Control Act.
The demolition took weeks due to the inability to bring large machinery to the site.
According to the Building Control Act, Department of Local Administration, Ministry of Interior, those who violate the law face the following penalties:
- Construction or modification without permission or deviating from approved plans: imprisonment up to 3 months or a fine up to 60,000 baht, or both, plus a daily fine up to 10,000 baht until compliance.
- Violating demolition orders without pending appeals: imprisonment up to 6 months or a fine up to 100,000 baht, or both, plus a daily fine up to 30,000 baht until compliance.
- Violating local official orders to halt unauthorized construction or modification, and violating orders prohibiting use or entry of any part of the building: imprisonment up to 6 months or a fine up to 100,000 baht, or both, plus a daily fine up to 30,000 baht until compliance.
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