Houses razed for new park

The last two houses in Pathumwananurak Park that stood in the area for 30 years have been taken down as the park prepares to open for public use.

Yesterday, photos of the park’s latest look were posted on a Facebook page named “Street Hero V3”, showing two worn-down houses before and after they were fully demolished.

Earlier, the owner of one of the houses gave an interview explaining that before the park was built, the land used to be a community called “Rong Poon” with more than 1,000 households.

However, it was situated on public land. The attempt to develop it into a public park led to a court order to expropriate public land. Many families then accepted compensation grants and moved out, he said.

The house owner said he had lived there for over three decades amid financial difficulties.

The park was completed in December 2018 but it could not open for public use due to the two residential houses.

It has an area of 40 rai or 6.4 hectares, situated in the heart of Bangkok next to the Central-World shopping mall. It is next to the Saen Saep canal and is connected by an elevated walkway to Ratchaprasong intersection.

As a key business district of Bangkok, private entities have worked with government agencies such as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to develop the Ratchaprasong area.

More than 700 million baht from the private sector has been used to build an elevated walkway connecting 18 buildings to the BTS Skytrain, for security cameras and establish public green areas.

The private sector has offered to provide training for those affected by land expropriation.