City Hall has longer-term schedule to simplify roads and create Singapore-style stalls areas
PUBLISHED: 10 Oct 2024 at 19: 52
Activities set to be restricted to specific areas of the capital, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration ( BMA ) as new rules for street vendors across the capital.
The laws are in line with an existing plan on managing people places, said Jakkapan Phiewngam, a deputy Bangkok government.
City Hall had said before that simply “poor Thais” may be allowed to be street sellers, and they would be barred from employing workers, among many other criteria.
A Thai voter must have at least one of the following qualifications in order to be granted permission to work as a seller for a year: they have a state security card, they are purchasing a home through the Baan Mankong system, and/or they receive security assistance from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
In the following season, vendors must demonstrate that their monthly income does not reach 300, 000 ringgit, as shown by their income tax filings.
The vast majority of sellers are expected to be the ones who have never filed income before, and those who have will be given a one-year grace period before they can start doing so.
The right to operate a kiosk on the streets will be forfeit for vendors who exceed the 300,000-baht revenue threshold. But, Mr Jakkapan said the BMA would evaluate the level annually, taking into account economic problems, inflation and the poverty line.
He claimed that city offices will have the power to approve sellers, with special consideration going to those who have already been given tax-registered status.
Distributors will be chosen through a lottery system in places where demand exceeds available space.
Every one to two years, the BMA will evaluate the suitability of designated dispensing areas in order to ensure pedestrians have ample room to walk properly.
Certain rules have been put in place to prevent booths from blocking public transportation, such as bus stops, ramps, or doors to public facilities.
Depending on the size of the city, vendors must make sure pedestrians have a space between 1.5 and 2 meters wide to move in. Each stall’s place is limited to three square meters. For safety, stands must be at least 50 cm from the road’s edge, and only on the edge of the pavement that is opposite to a road surface.
To serve as an emergency exit, there must also be a place that is at least 3 meters long and at least every 10 kiosks.
In a bid to provide cleaner, more organized places for suppliers to run, Bangkok government Chadchart Sittipunt had previously stated that BMA’s ultimate goal is to reduce the number of vendors on the streets by moving them to designated areas, related to Singapore’s method to stall centers.
The BMA will evaluate existing areas for compliance with the new regulations, but it currently does n’t intend to expand vending centers.
Mr Chadchart said that over the past two years, around 10, 000 contractors had been removed from Bangkok’s streets, and efforts to establish stalls areas are continuing.