City Hall has told 529 stallholders near the clock tower at Chatuchak weekend market they must move out by April 30 to make way for planned redevelopment.
The instruction was issued by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's market office.
Market office chairman Suksan Kittisupakorn, accompanied by other senior officials, explained the move during a media briefing at the BMA head office on Wednesday. It covered issues of transparency over the management of the weekend market, the refusal to renew the contracts of vendors using the 529 stalls, and guidelines for the further development of the market.
Mr Suksan responded to the allegation the market office had not delivered rent collected from vendors at the market’s Project 30 and those around the clock tower to the BMA from 2019 to 2023.
Mr Suksan said market office staff issued receipts to vendors who paid rent and the money was handed over to the finance section.
He denied there were any irregularities in rent collection.
According to Mr Suksan, monthly fees for permanent stalls were 1,800 baht a month, green stalls 1,400 baht and tree and plant stalls 900 baht. The BMA operated the market but the land was owned by the State Railway of Thailand, to which it paid 169 million baht a year.
In the fiscal years 2020-2024, the market office had not collected some monthly fees and had reduced fees for other vendors because of the Covid-19 epidemic. This caused a drop in revenue, he said.
During the fiscal years 2023-2024, additional income had been collected such as management fees, vending fees and fees from use of vacant spaces.
He defended the market office’s right to cancel stall rental contracts and reduce the fine for those who paid late. The fine was not as high as critics claimed, he said.
Vendors at Chatuchak weekend market earlier petitioned Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt to investigate the management of the market office over its refusal to renew the contracts of 529 stallholders.
Mr Suksan said the vending areas in these zones were not pretty and the pathway area had been reduced to only 9 metres, from the original 19 metres. There had been complaints from shops in the area that their frontages were now obscured behind stalls. There was also poor air circulation, he said.
As the contracts for the 529 stallholders expired on Oct 31 last year, the BMA had planned to develop the clock tower area as a new landmark, to draw tourists to the weekend market, he said.
The market office had extended the vending period for those expired stallholders until April 30.
Stallholders who were not behind in their rent were earlier allowed to choose other vending stalls at the market. There were about 200 stalls available and the normal 60,000 baht fee was waived, he said. But only 15 vendors opted to take up the offer.
Of the 529 stallholders affected, 122 owed back-rent to the market office. The office had already cancelled the contracts of those delinquent stallholders and would sue them to recover the money owed, Mr Suksan said.