A canal's promise freed from bondage

The rebirth of a section of Bangkok’s Klong Ong-ang has come at the detriment of the street vendors making their home there, but is a revelation for residents interested in the city’s history and opportunities for its beautification, improved storm drainage and perhaps better traffic flow.

Before-and-after photos have circulated in the media of the canal segment that for decades was covered over by the Saphan Lek Market, a bustling but unsightly warren of makeshift shops and housing. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has had its officials evict the vendors and scrape away their stalls and abodes, many with tattered canvas canopies and rusting roofs of corrugated tin. 

The Saphan Han Bridge over the canal has been cleaned and lanes along both banks resurfaced with asphalt. All this was unveiled in time for the Loy Krathong festival yesterday, though much more work still needs to be done, such as dredging the canal of choking sediment.

What’s most startling about the changes wrought in this small part of Bangkok is that they hint at vast potential for improvements right across the city and might inspire residents to spearhead refurbishment in other areas. 

The BMA deserves high marks for salvaging this portion of the canal from its grimy fate. Unfortunately the effort demanded that the site also be reclaimed from the squatters and vendors who had made it their habitat and were in no mood to move elsewhere. Business was good at the Saphan Lek Market and they’d been there for generations. 

It’s easy to empathise with these citizens and thousands of others who have occupied public spaces so long that’s it’s become almost “tradition” – particularly along Bangkok’s historic canals and on government land around the country. The fact remains, however, that they reside there illegally, and they and their predecessors certainly knew and have known that their rightful eviction could come at any time.

In the case of Klong Ong-ang, the clearing away of the market represents hardship for the few and significant benefit to the masses. The authorities should be encouraged to do the same along other urban canals where residential encroachment causes or exacerbates problems. Not only can the work improve the site’s appearance, but it also restores the canal’s helpful purpose of draining away floodwater following heavy downpours. The streets of the capital are all too often deluged because its centuries-old waterways have become blocked.

There is also the possibility that sections of some of these canals can once again be opened to commuter boat services and thus help ease rush-hour traffic on the streets. The Lat Phrao Canal, extending across eight districts of Bangkok, has the potential to become a major new boat route. The BMA is currently attempting to clear away more than 3,000 houses encroaching on it.

To those who must be evicted, the authorities promise subsidised housing elsewhere. They might have to move well away from their places of business, but at least they will have a residence to rightfully call their own, and without the daily worry of being cast out.