Final episode: Planning and investing in a synchronous market system
Before 2009, the Kenh Bac Bridge food market (Hung Phuc - Vinh City) was quite active, with hundreds of businesses and traders, but in the past 3 years, this market has been wiped out because the businesses returned the land for the project to build a commercial center combined with apartments and office services. During the same period of time, that project was ... suspended!
Ms. Thanh has been a grocery seller in the Cau Kenh Bac food market area since 1994. In 2009, she handed over the business area in the market area (right next to Nguyen Sy Sach street) to the investor to build a commercial center combined with apartments and office services with the hope that after completion, she would have better business conditions in a new, more spacious and decent place. However, after receiving the land, the investor fenced it off and left it there.
Businesses in Cau Market have to plant bamboo poles, stretch tarps and set up temporary tents to trade. Ms. Thanh said: The business location is unstable, and urban security forces often "take" goods and dismantle tents, so many households have quit their jobs, but currently in this market there are still dozens of households selling meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc., staying and lining up across the southern bank of the North Canal (Nguyen Sy Sach Street). This is also a "hot spot" for traffic safety and order. In the early morning and late evening every day, this section of the road often experiences a very chaotic market. Meat, fish, and beans that are not sold in the morning are brought back to private homes for storage, then sold again in the afternoon market. This phenomenon makes it difficult to manage food safety and hygiene. When asked about the quarantine stamp of pork, a woman selling this item replied: "I am a small business, I have to take back other people's goods, so I don't know if there is a quarantine stamp or not." It is known that the meat supply to this market comes from slaughterhouses in the neighboring area and a quantity of goods is brought from Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong districts... The market is temporary so food traders (especially meat sellers) in this area have to do business in a polluted environment, due to the influence of stench and waste in Bac canal.
Mr. Bui Xuan Nam - Chairman of Hung Phuc Ward People's Committee said: "The project of commercial complex, apartment buildings, office services at this location is invested by Thien Tai Import-Export and Trade Transport Joint Stock Company. The project has been implemented since 2009 and in the project planning, the investor will reserve more than 1,000 m2 of floor space for a green market. Until now, the project has not been implemented". And according to Ms. Thanh, doing business in this area is "No matter how the name is changed, we do not care and the most important thing is when the traders here can enter the new market to stabilize their business". This is a painful lesson about "turning" the market into a commercial center.
The temporary market in Truong Thi ward is shabby and shabby.
According to statistics, there are currently 25 markets in Vinh City, including 2 type 1 markets (Vinh market, Ga market), 3 type 2 markets (Hung Dung market, Ben Thuy market, Cua Dong market), 13 type 3 markets and 7 temporary markets with a total land area of 146,564 m2. Although the planning, construction and development of the market system has been approved, during the implementation process, investment capital for this field has encountered many difficulties. Previously, the investment capital for the construction of the market system was mainly from the state budget, land exploitation and contributions from the people, but now due to the innovation in construction investment and management model, most of the wards, communes and market management boards are still confused and have not found effective solutions.
Of the total 25 markets in Vinh City, 16 have been planned, 4 are planned for new locations and 5 are not planned (including Doi Cung Market, Quang Trung Market, Cau Thuc Pham Market, A1 Quang Trung Market)... It is known that Doi Cung Market, Quang Trung Market, Cau Thuc Pham Market, Din Market, A1 Quang Trung Market are not suitable for urban planning, so for many years, these markets have not been invested in upgrading, so the markets are always in a state of unsafety in terms of fire prevention, food safety, environment... and especially creating an "unpleasant" appearance for Vinh City. An alarming reality today is that Vinh City is lacking land funds to serve the investment and development of the market system. Due to the characteristics of the markets, most of them need locations in "golden land" areas and with large land areas, many wards and communes find it difficult to find suitable locations to build markets. Because of that, in some localities, due to the urgent need for market development, they invested in building markets in unreasonable locations, and in the end, after the wedding market was finished, there were no people attending. There was a lack of land to build markets, and then there were businesses that, after compensating and clearing the market site, "soaked the land" for years, causing hundreds of businesses to "move" to the sidewalk and then the businesses changed the land use purpose... It is difficult to count how many temporary markets, flea markets, and illegal markets there are in Vinh City today, and even though their existence is illegal, it is still difficult to eliminate.
Although the market system in Vinh City has been planned, invested and developed, due to the huge capital demand, many markets have not been able to build, upgrade and renovate. From 2006 to now, the total investment capital for the development of the market system is 229,370 million VND, of which the state budget capital is only 31.17 million VND, the people contributed 182.7 million VND and mobilized other capital sources is 15.5 billion VND. Vinh market is in the top position with a total investment capital of 185 billion VND (of which the state budget supported 22 billion and the people contributed 163 billion VND), after completion it served 1,200 business households. In 2011, the total revenue of Vinh market was 12.2 billion VND. Vinh train station market is a first-class market, but for many years, only 830 million VND was invested in renovation, or Ben Thuy, Cua Bac, Hung Dung, Quan Bau markets... were also invested with very little money, some markets even did not receive investment for many years.
Although Vinh City currently has many types of services such as commercial centers, supermarkets, shopping centers, etc., the city still determines to continue to supplement planning and invest in developing traditional markets. With the number of existing markets (already planned), in the coming time, a number of new markets will be added to the planning such as Tru market, Nghi Lien market, Nghi An flower and ornamental plant market. In addition, a number of markets in the area will be invested in upgrading and renovating to promptly meet the needs of the people as well as ensure traffic safety and order, and urban beauty.
