After months of operating in sub-optimal conditions, vendors and customers of Binh Tay Market are finally allowed to move back in.
Phap Luat reports that on October 9, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade issued an official plan to relocate vendors of Binh Tay Market back into the market building, which has been under renovation since 2016. According to the announcement, the revamp project is in its last legs and shop owners will start to move back from November 1 to 14.
The location of the market's vendors won’t change compared to before renovation and it’s expected that Binh Tay’s 1,000 sellers will be able to go back to business as usual by the end of November.
In June 2016, Saigon officials declared that the city will upgrade the decades-old market in District 6 after a proposal by the district’s People’s Committee was approved. Construction officially began in the last quarter of the same year and more than 1,000 shops in the market were relocated to a nearby compound.
The temporary “market” is actually a series of makeshift kiosks made up of corrugated metal along Thap Muoi Street in the district. The structure cost District 6 VND15.1 billion to build, but fitting more than 1,000 businesses in one area proved to be an ordeal for everyone involved. A lack of proper parking space, air-conditioning, and even walking pathways lead to frequent traffic jams, dwindling foot traffic and an uncomfortable shopping experience.
Although the renovation was slated to just last a year from November 2016 to November 2017, it was only until this month that vendors could breathe a sigh of relief when the announcement was made. With news that the original market will reopen, district officials also shared that the makeshift site will cease operation from November 15.
