#Thailand - BMA to ask Prayut to intervene in Khaosan spat over stalls

BANGKOK METROPOLITAN ADMINISTRATION (BMA) may ask Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to intervene in their bid to restrict footpath stalls in one of the city’s most famous streets.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul said yesterday that he plans to discuss the matter with vendors and various other relevant authorities tomorrow or on Friday.

“We may also submit our conclusion to the prime minister because Khaosan is a famous attraction,” he said.

The ban took effect on August 1. 

Located in the capital’s Phra Nakhon district, Khaosan Road’s longstanding street-fair atmosphere is hugely popular among Thais and tourists.

The BMA, however, has resolved to strictly regulate street stalls there to ensure orderliness but vendors are still calling for the ban to be lifted. 

“We are working on three models to present to the BMA. One of the models is to let stalls run in the morning hours too and in return, we will make sure street stalls are tidier,” said Chonnapha Teansawang, a long-time vendor on Khaosan Road.

BMA’s recent restriction allows stalls to operate on the road next to footpath only between 6pm and midnight. 

Chonnapha said vendors operating stalls in the morning usually had tour groups as customers. 

“We are adversely affected. When the news came out, tour-group organisers cancelled their plan to come to Khaosan Road,” she |said. 

Chonnapha has sold cell phones and bags for more than two decades. 

“I think Khaosan stalls are attractive because of the diverse rang of products in the area,” she said. 

Chonnapha said her group was now holding discussions with vendors in a bid to get a solid proposal to be submitted to the BMA for consideration. It is estimated that Khaosan Road has about 300 vendors. 

According to the deputy governor, “As of now, about 230 vendors have come forward to register with the BMA.” 

xHe said he recognised that Khaosan vendors had plied their trade for a long time and contributed to Khaosan’s reputation as an interesting tourist place. “But what they do is illegal,” he said. 

Sourse - TheNation

 

 Ps. It go look like, the hate Tourists (Foreigners)

Bangkok flooding is chronic problem

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BMA officials admit they cannot cope with heavy rains as experts blame infrastructure and lack of preparedness.

BANGKOK WILL continue to experience flooding after heavy rains unless water-drainage problems including roads and canals are solved, water-management experts have said.

Heavy rain was to blame for yesterday’s floods in 25 areas around Bangkok after up to 170 millimetres of rain fell on the capital on Wednesday night, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) stated. 

Bangkok faced the prospect of more flooding as the Meteorological Department predicted more heavy rains last night and this morning.

 The heavy rains turned many streets of the city into canals and seriously worsened rush-hour traffic, causing many commuters to arrive late at work or school. One of the worst flooded areas was the Lat Phrao intersection at Ratchadaphisek Road, where the floodwaters reached about 30 centimetres and seriously disrupted traffic.

“Moreover, we could not drain the floodwater out of the street properly, because the canals were already full of water from the rains, even though we had decreased the water levels in the canals in advance.”

Sitang Pilailar, a lecturer at the Water Resources Engineering Department at Kasetsart University, said the reasons the BMA cited were chronic problems for the city.

“Bangkok will still flood every time after heavy rain, if the water cannot drain from the roads to the drainage pipes and to the canals properly,” Sitang said.

She said the first problem was that the drainage system mixed with the sewer system, so pipes were already full of wastewater. Moreover, during the floods in 2011, sand was dumped into the drainage system that had not been cleared out completely, lessening the capacity of the city’s drainage pipes by half.

Another problem was lack of preparation before the rain, Sitang said, adding the BMA usually received weather predictions from the Meteorological Department so water levels in the canals could be lowered in advance, but this time the BMA had not performed well.

“In addition to these problems, we still have the issue that many old communities suffer from chronic flooding because their location is lower than street level, so the water from the road drains into their communities instead of into the drainage pipes. The garbage in the drainage system is also significant, as many people still throw litter into drainage pipes and canals,” Sitang said.

“This is a task for all of us to tackle. The BMA has to be better prepared for flooding and maintain the drainage system to make sure that it can work properly, while the people also have to avoid clogging the drainage system with garbage if we want to sustainably solve the flooding problem in Bangkok.”

Source - TheNation

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