Pattaya is planning to bring order to Naklua’s unruly New Market to improve hygiene and traffic in the area.
City Manager Chanapong Sriviset chaired a June 26 meeting that laid out the objectives for the new rules aimed largely at sublessors and those who ignore market regulations.
Opened in 2006, the Naklua New Market has two daily selling sessions, at 2-11 a.m. and 2-11 p.m. The morning session has 375 stalls and the evening offers 336. The market also houses 13 commercial buildings, 102 stands and ten 24-hour food stalls.
Many of those stalls, however, are illegally subleased out by vendors that feel no obligation to comply with health and safety regulations, Chanapong alleged.
He said they waste water and power, dump garbage wherever they want and clog sewers with food waste.
Overall, vendors encroach upon public land by placing containers and equipment outside their stalls, which creates congestion inside the market.
Chanapong also said little maintenance has been performed by lessors of the commercial buildings, and all their utilities and infrastructure are breaking down.
Finally, he said, there are hordes of illegal street vendors that don’t have permission to sell around the market.
A Market Organization Committee has been formed and tasked with surveying the entire New Market, listing problems and proposing solutions. It also was ordered to solve the market’s parking problems.
The committee will work with the Environment and Finance departments to create new regulations and enforcement procedures that will be submitted later to the Pattaya City Council.
