Hang Dong’s hills are alive with dodgy developments (and the valleys too)

This development, apparently illegal, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hang Dong district in Chiang Mai.
Not far from us along Samoeng Road was a corner plot for sale with planning permission for a three-storey building, kept small since it is located in the “protected Green Zone” right beside the official boundary of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.
Suddenly a sign appeared advertising two eight-storey “office-condominiums”, with the largest lettering in Chinese. How and why did that happen, and with whose permission, and who was to benefit?
Though only up three floors so far, and with a huge crane looming over the site, the buildings are already monstrous, in more ways than one, since this is rural and supposedly protected area.
Perhaps it’s time for an investigation into the Hang Dong Planning Department! These sorts of development don’t just happen by themselves!
JT