Phuket to establish new tender for lifeguard service
The OrBorJor Phuket has announced it will launch another auction for the provision of lifeguard services, this time offering a budget of Bt16 million, Satien Kaewpraprab, its deputy secretary said on Saturday.
The date will be confirmed this month. “We believe that this second round of auction will get more people interested in tendering during the auction. However if there are no new contractors tendering, we have already found a solution for it by hiring individual lifeguards as we are doing now,” said Satien.
He noted that for the next budget year the OrBorJor is planning with the local administration offices to let them run their own tender auctions to provide lifeguards in their areas. This is one way to avoid the issue faced in the past of trying to find a single contractor for all of the island’s beaches.
“We believe that the problem won’t happen again, as we have had discussions with the local administration offices and we will support them with the budget while allowing them to hire lifeguards by themselves.” He also revealed that the organisation has been hiring individual lifeguards to staff seven beaches from November 1, including Nai Harn Beach, Yanui Beach, Kamala Beach, Patong Beach, Surin Beach, Bangtao Beach, Nai Thorn Beach and Maikhao Beach.
The total number of lifeguards at 24 spots around the seven beaches is 63. However the OrBorJor is still searching for individual lifeguards for Kata, Karon and Nai Yang beaches, which will add another 32 people to the lifeguard roster it employs. Currently only Royal Thai Navy officers, Civil Defense volunteers and Tourist Security Guard volunteers are servicing those three beaches. Source: Asia Nation
