Bangkok Post Business Section of August 2, 2007

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/02Aug2007_biz99.php

PROPERTY / JOMTIEN COMPLEX

Pattaya high-rise protesters win court battle

Residents of the Jomthien Complex Condotel have won a case at the Bangkok Supreme Administrative Court affirming their request for a temporary halt to the construction of a high-rise condominium on Jomthien beach in Pattaya.

The court upheld the decision of the Administrative Court in Rayong in a dispute that centred on the construction of the 1.15-billion-baht View Talay Jomthien Project 7, which would rise 27 storeys or about 81 metres.

The final hearing on whether the project could proceed in its present form is scheduled to be held in the Rayong Court next Wednesday.

The dispute centres on whether a project of the height in question could be constructed at the location, as the 10 plaintiffs argued that buildings cannot exceed 14 metres in height on the site because it is less than 200 metres from the mean sea level.

View Talay Jomthien Condominium (1999) Co Ltd, the project's developer, explained to the Supreme Administrative Court that halting construction would cause damages of about 500 million baht to the company.

When the court in Rayong issued its injunction to halt the construction in April, the company had already invested about 100 million baht in the project, which is scheduled to be complete in 2009. Therefore, the company appealed the decision of the Rayong court and asked to continue with the construction.

Richard Haines, one of the plaintiffs, said the Supreme Administration Court's decision upheld the Interior Ministry's regulation No. 9, announced in 1978, which allows only buildings of no more than 14 metres high to be built in areas 200 metres from the mean sea level.

''View Talay started its 27-storey building at 100 metres from the mean sea level, so the project is 100 metres too close to the shoreline,'' he said.