Street vendors and illegal trading booths in the Saphan Lek area will be moved on within the next two weeks to pave the way for landscape improvements and rejuvenate the waterway.
About 500 vendors and illegal structures along Damrongsathit Bridge, better known as Saphan Lek, will have to be removed within 15 days after the announcement by the Bangkok Metropolitan Adminsitration (BMA) takes effect on Monday, said Bangkok governor adviser Vichai Sangparpai.
If the vendors fail to remove their trading booths by Oct 12, City Hall will arrange for their removal the following week, he said.
Vendors read the official notice that the Saphan Lek market will move out 500 vendors and illegal traders.(Photos by Patipat Janthong)
The BMA has used the 1959 Revolution Order number 44 to ban the vendors.
Saphan Lek market is famous for all types of products from CDs to watches, toys to home equipment.
The move was a part of an effort to clean up Bangkok footpaths and public areas, to return them to pedestrians.
BMA officials on Thursday inspected the Saphan Lek market along Khlong Ong Ang. The public area has been occupied by street vendors for more than 30 years.
Khlong Ong Ang was registered as a historical site by the Fine Arts Department.
The canal, about 500 metres long, is on the outskirts of the old town area which links Phra Nakhon and Samphanthawong districts.
The public area along the canal which used to measure about seven to eight metres wide has been taken over by trading stalls and booths, narrowing the walkway down to just one metre.
Mr Vichai said City Hall has been working with Phra Nakhon and Samphanthawong district offices over the past two months, to seek a solution to clean up the area.
Street vendors in the area have taken over the public space and illegally built trading booths over the canal, he said.
Once the area is cleaned up, City Hall will develop the area into a new tourist attraction, Mr Vichai said.
Water transport will also be brought back to life at the canal.
The adviser said many of the 500 vendors in the area have agreed to move out.
The BMA has also prepared new trading space for them at the Khlong Thom Centre, a market at the old southern bus terminal, behind Pata Pinklao, or Talad Tha Din Deang.
A vendor contemplates her store at Saphan Lek, which she must pack up and vacate within 15 days. (Photos by Patipat Janthong)
Pramern Krairos, Phra Nakhon district's assistant director, said the office will work with the Crown Property Bureau to control the illegal structures.
Any buildings along Khlong Ong Ang found to be illegally extended into the canal or footpath will have to be demolished, he said.
Some traders in the area said yesterday they have not yet been officially informed the city intends regulating the area, but would be willing to cooperate when they are.