SRT, Chatuchak vendors yet to agree on rents
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The State Railway of Thailand and the vendors in the Chatuchak Weekend Market are yet to reach an agreement on rental rates.
The SRT met yesterday with a hundred vendors from all 27 zones in the marketplace.
SRT governor Yutthana Thapcharoen expects the new rates would be finalised by next month.
They should vary from zone to zone, he said.
During the meeting, the state enterprise asked the merchants to provide information through their representatives to the SRT on their problems and proposals.
Then the SRT will convene another meeting to work out a plan to jointly manage the market.
Yutthana has insisted that the existing tenants still enjoy the right to lease space in the market that they inherited from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration when its management contract expired.
The landlord would raise the rents little by little after it starts spending on further development of the weekend market, he added.
Sanguan Damrongthai, the representative of one group of Chatuchak vendors, said he disagrees with idea of varying the rents depending on the location. The vendors would stage a protest if the rent is raised more than Bt1,000 per stall.
The average rent of all 8,807 stalls is Bt471 per stall with a space of 2 metres by 2.5m.
Yutthana said the SRT is considering whether to manage the market by itself or to set up a subsidiary to do so.
The SRT took over the market’s operation from the BMA on January 2.
