A somewhat manic phenomenon of recent years to afflict Chiang Mai is the burgeoning of apartment house or condominia building. Rather than an orderly and planned development of high density housing in the West of the city centred on Nimmanhaemin Road, there proceeds a competition to pour as much concrete and steel as possible into the area, restrained only by height limits for the airport flight path above.
Watching over all this in Sukkasem Road, just off the direct flight path, is the eleven storied 103 Condominium Project 3, built in the boom days before the 1997 crash.
The extra 3 floors above the surrounding norm gives commanding views from its rooftop terrace over the city. Yet judging from the mess of satellite dishes in the roof the residents would rather take in views, not of Doi Suthep to the west, nor Doi Luang Chang Dao visible during the rainy season 60 km to the north, nor the eastern range marking the Lamphun border, but pictures assembled courtesy of television.
Looking down to the roofs below, to the West Unique has only four dishes one of which appears lost, and to the South East on Bahn Thai none are to be seen.
So why the discrepancy? Don’t the neighbors love CNN, HBO, RT, BBC, etc? After all with next to no views of the countryside they may feel compelled to watch TV. Or do they manage to share the signals in some clever way as part of a plot to do the dish makers and local tradesfolk out of a living? Please advise.
And one more picture to illustrate the other large condo, once visible from all floors of 103 but now largely obscured; Punna as viewed from a peaceful patch of private open space. No public parks are in walking distance nor are on the city’s plans for this slum housing concentration of the future.
And just in case you wondered. Construction proceeds apace on another 8 storey apartment monolith to the North of 103. Who needs a breeze with aircon ? Or to put it another way “Who needs aircon when there is shade and a breeze?”
View to the North at night : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1bawGPq-gs
From Yumyum :
Hi very good article on NIMMHAEMIN ROAD on the latest maps its now called hip street – full of trendys at starbucks and other places yet nothing has ever been done to clean up the power lines hanging everywhere and no footpaths to walk on plus traffic to rival sukhumvit in Bangkok and our soi whill be impossible soon unless they make it one way Tit this Thailand I wonder what tourists think when they come here now
cheers yumyum
From Luis:
I agree that it is indeed, a “condomania” sustained by the recent tourist numbers, in spite of the unrest in Bangkok, or perhaps thanks to it, and much increased local demand, from the hospital and the Uni areas. There is worst to come: the noise from airplanes will continue to increase. Starting from April, the midnight until 6 a.m no-flight rule will be removed to accommodate new airplanes arriving directly from China. If we add to airplanes noise the one from the increasing traffic (by the way: did you hear the new gigantic motorbikes?) and the pubs and night venues, plus the dust and pollution, the traffic jams, the new Maya and other constructions etc. etc., which are all development totally unplanned in a coherent and comprehensive masterplan, it is time to seriously consider moving out of this area.
It is sad to say, but I honestly do not see any reasonable improvement to this continuing down-hill scenario.
Cheers
Luigi Marcon
P.S.: Even the World Bank seems to have given-up with local developments. They had grant money (FREE) available under the GEF (Global Environmental Facility) in Chiang Mai for green, non-motorised transport (Nimman was an ideal area for consideration). It was hitting deadline for disbursement at the end of 2013 with no much actions on the ground (except for “study tours” around the world for local staff, of course). The WB is doing a last effort to avoid the embarrassment of a project that did not perform. Maybe there is still a chance to make it work, perhaps in some downtown areas, although I doubt it.
See (and also check the project documents in the WB website):
http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/thailand-taking-first-step-green-chiang-mai
The comments are becoming rather wide ranging and this I wrote on the World Bank blog which has yet to be approved:
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Well Khun Chanin , I was at perhaps the last of the several consultation sessions. Not invited by the local government, as were many who attended, but by friends at the last minute. The meeting was far from having “positive outcomes”. People were furious that there had been a number of secret consultations, which came up with a plan to dig up recent paving at the 3 Kings square, lay some more, avoid planting shady trees and having no effect on the ability to walk or cycle safely in the city. This I might add is a city which has let bike lanes disappear with no maintenance for 6 years thanks to the current Mayor. The Mayor was too cowardly to attend, but his secretary and No 2 were there and very quiet until the end, when the deputy mayor did a little show, quite a showman really, saying no no no the plan would not go ahead. Now guess what – it is proceeding pretty much as planned and the bike lanes are still invisible. You know perfectly well that local government here is run by crooks who regularly violate the Thai Constitution, and yet you assist them and not the people. Shame on you.