EDITORIAL
A canal's promise freed from bondage
The Nation

The vendors of Saphan Lek Market have been swept aside so the klong they buried can serve its intended purpose

BANGKOK: -- 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.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/A-canals-promise-freed-from-bondage-30273708.html

-- The Nation 2015-11-26

I kind of figured they built up the market on top of the canal to keep the stench down...

Like they cover open sewers around the world.

Looks great, if they would provide a photo.....

Hey , where is the bondage part ? I clicked on it for the BSDM and it's about a canal soon to be another open stinking sewer ?

Looks great, if they would provide a photo.....

For your personal enjoyment. T@H.

Looks great, if they would provide a photo.....

For your personal enjoyment. T@H.

saplek.jpgsaplek2.jpgsaplek3.jpg

I won't be adding it to my bucket list.

Hey , where is the bondage part ? I clicked on it for the BSDM and it's about a canal soon to be another open stinking sewer ?

"............soon to be another open stinking sewer ?"

It is already a stinking sewer, hopefully these bold moves by the BMA will breathe life back into these hidden waterways.

They've done it in the UK, can do it here.

I know this is not the real pictures, but how I wish.....

Looks great, if they would provide a photo.....

That was strange ... to make the comment "Before-and-after photos have circulated in the media." and then not show anything.

Land Of Stinks

In the next national election, number of votes by canals - zero.

great to see them actually clearing these areas up, making the ones responsible pay for it would not go astray either. You only have to look at all the sh*t in the water to realize these people dont care about the enviroment or keeping their areas clean, all they care about is money.

A canal's promise freed from bondage

What of the "bondage" of the three thousand Saphan Lek traders and residents being arbitrarily evicted from their homes so the area can be tarted up? With no alternative accommodation or jobs waiting for them, in a country with virtually full employment, they are likely to end up even more tightly welded to poverty.

But who cares, as the gentrification of the capital gathers pace, so long as the elite can gaze from their high-rises over panoramas unsullied by the exploited underclass to whom most of them owe their privileged lifestyle.

What is being lost in this discussion over the removal of "blight" is the very real problem of slum-dwellers and poverty. It is all very well (at least some think so!) to displace people and claim that we have solved the "problem". Where do they go? What is the economy doing, that it produces so many who are not part of upward mobility?

There are many slum areas in Thailand, as in other countries, and they are growing. (There is a long linear slum stretching for scores of miles alongside the rail line going to Sisaket in the Northeast, for example.) Every so often, the business leaders of a country or a region will declare it's time for "urban renewal" and "cleanup". Then the residents will carry what meager belongings they can to another more barren and less desirable spot, where they will again endeavor to establish the stability and social networks necessary for a kind of survival. Is that is what is happening here? Probably. Displaced residents the world over are almost never placed into suitable housing. It is something to think about down the road when we are enjoying the improvement in the klong...

A canal's promise freed from bondage

What of the "bondage" of the three thousand Saphan Lek traders and residents being arbitrarily evicted from their homes so the area can be tarted up? With no alternative accommodation or jobs waiting for them, in a country with virtually full employment, they are likely to end up even more tightly welded to poverty.

But who cares, as the gentrification of the capital gathers pace, so long as the elite can gaze from their high-rises over panoramas unsullied by the exploited underclass to whom most of them owe their privileged lifestyle.

The market was a deathtrap. Had there been a fire, there was no way out for hundred of shop keepers and customers. There was absolutely no thought of safety in its (lack of) design or construction or operation.

They may have saved dozens, if not hundreds of lives by tearing it down.

As much as I'll miss the eclectic collection of shops, good riddance to the deathtrap it was.

I know this is not the real pictures, but how I wish.....

• 

Almost there. A coat of paint and a little time for the potted shrubbery to fill in...

Taken this morning (Nov 28) at the former site of the deathtrap (my opinion) market. Gotta admit, I'm favorably impressed so far.