Fury over luxury Ekkamai high-rise
Residents say condo is ‘not proportional’
Residents of Soi Sukhumvit 61 are protesting against a planned, luxury condo development with Khunying Chada Wattanasiritham — chairperson of Siam Commercial Foundation — vowing to protect the community from the project, which will see a 43-storey high-rise built on the street.
The project — dubbed “Impression Ekkamai” — sits on a large plot of land which straddles sois Sukhumvit 61 and 63. The condominium has yet to be built as its developer is still waiting for its Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) to be approved.
If cleared, three buildings — a 16-floor car park, a 25-floor and 43-floor residential towers — will be constructed.
The planned construction has caused worries among residents in nearby communities, where Khunying Chada and other prominent families have been living for decades.
Khunying Chada and other residents said the condominium’s dimensions are not proportional to the small lanes near Soi 61 and 63. The project, she said, does not meet requirements listed in the EIA, which state that buildings on small sois must not be more than seven storeys and/or 23 metres in height.
The Bangkok Post has contacted the developer of Impression Ekkamai, but the developer could not be reached as of press time.
Khunying Chada said residents will go to the Administrative Court if the project’s EIA gets approved. Authorities — including officials from the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep) and Department of Civil Works — will scrutinise the project’s EIA on Thursday.
If built, the condominium will alter wind direction, cast a shadow over the neighbourhood, raise doubts over wastewater management, increase fire risk and cause traffic along the soi, said Khunying Chada.
“The traffic is already bad as it is. An increase of between 300 and 400 [condominium] units will only make things worse,” Khunying Chada said, referring to the subsequent increase of cars once the project is finished.
“Eventually the area will not be as pleasant and livable, and the community will be destroyed.”
Local resident, Malina Palasathian, said residents are not opposed to having a high-rise condominium on their street.
“We just want its owners to redesign it to match the context of our community,” she said.
Complaints against large condominium projects in big cities are on the rise, with Narumon Mekborisut, of the Foundation for Consumers, saying that her foundation has received 64 complaints about illegal high-rises in Bangkok alone.
Many EIAs of large projects in Bangkok were compiled with “false information” which caused ultimately caused conflicts with nearby residents, she said.