HCM City’s Transport Department has proposed to the city authority to allocate part of the land fund for street vendors to serve their trade activities.

The aim is to curb pavement encroachment in the city.

This proposal is mentioned in a document on measures to curb pavement encroachment in the city, which was sent to the city’s People’s Committee for approval.

According to the document, the city’s Institute of Development Research will be in charge of studying the use of pavements in the city and will prepare a plan to allocate areas for street vendors to gather and undertake their trading activities.

Many peddlers have been seen setting up their pushcarts on roadbeds in the city’s downtown area. In 2014, the local authority committed to stop street vendors and vehicles from encroaching upon pavements on 100 roads in an effort of curb the practice.

However, the city has witnessed little success. According to district administrators, most peddlers are immigrants who do not have a permanent address and are very poor, therefore, it is hard to impose fines on them.

The city’s authority has asked hospitals and health clinics to allot part of its campus for parking lots or attract investors to build high-storey parking lots, the document also states.

The city police have been ordered to impose strict penalties for violations related to pavement and road encroachment in the city.

Figures from the department showed that the city has more than 4,890 wide and narrow roads. However, more than half of the city’s roads do not have sidewalks and vehicles have to be parked illegally on the road.

Districts 1 and 3 have 167 streets, with most of the streets prohibiting parking. Parking violations are, however, rampant. 

VNS