Restaurant operators encroaching on public space on Haad Rin beach on the full-moon party island of Koh Phangan have been given until June 20 to remove all illegally built structures.
Owners who miss the deadline will have to bear all costs if the Ban Tai Municipality dismantles their places, said Lt Thanongsak Permsanam, a task force commander in charge of dealing with illegal properties on the island in Surat Thani.
Soldiers, municipal and land officials who conducted inspections on Friday found 13 structures built on public land. Four were complying with the demolition order but the other nine had done nothing yet.
They promised authorities on Friday that they would anything built onto the beach by the deadline.
Ban Tai mayor Theerayuth Plaisuwan said the municipality planned to clean up and renovate the beach area after the encroachment problem is solved.
The beach is notorious as the site of raucous full-moon parties featuring thousands of inebriated tourists every month.