Businesses on Koh Larn are up in arms following a recent island-wide power outage that left tourists fuming and caused significant financial losses estimated at over 1 million baht. The blackout, which occurred on June 14th, 2024, was triggered when construction workers from the Pattaya City Administration accidentally severed the sole power line supplying electricity to the entire island. This critical line, belonging to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), runs underground beneath the beach.
Mr. Suphapan Thopae, a resort owner on Koh Larn, expressed deep frustration as the outage led to a wave of refund demands from tourists and forced cancellations of bookings. Local businesses, especially beachfront restaurants and shops, suffered additional losses due to the inability to refrigerate perishable food items meant for tourists.
Responding swiftly to the crisis, Pattaya City officials and PEA personnel mobilized to the scene with heavy equipment to initiate repairs and restore power. However, according to Mr. Boonthien Jansuuk, Director of the Pattaya City Engineering Department, efforts were initially hampered by difficulties in pinpointing the exact location of the damaged power line amidst two underground cables in the same vicinity: the Koh Larn line and a high-mast cable.
Mr. Boonthien clarified that the excavation work initially aimed to fix the high-mast line, which had suffered a short circuit. Regrettably, during these operations, workers inadvertently cut the main power supply to Koh Larn. To prevent such mishaps in the future, Pattaya City plans to relocate the high-mast cable to a safer location along the walkway, away from critical infrastructure serving Koh Larn.
As of the afternoon, PEA technicians are actively engaged in efforts to restore electricity to the island, a process expected to take between 2 to 3 hours. The incident underscores the vulnerability of Koh Larn’s infrastructure and the urgent need for improved safeguards to mitigate disruptions affecting local businesses and tourism.
Credit: The Pattaya News
