Published on July 18, 2005

Silom traffic falls 30% in one sweep

Last Monday Bangkok’s downtown district on Silom Road was swept free of chaotic traffic that had plagued it for decades.

The improved flow was not brought on by new roads, expressways or a fancy mega-project that cost taxpayers trillions of baht. Neither did it require drastic measures like an executive decree or bulldozers to clear messy areas.

In one clean sweep, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) imposed a ban on street vendors that saved hundreds of millions of baht in fuel costs, wasted working hours and lost opportunities, not to mention the positive impact it had on real estate in the city centre.

No rocket science was employed. No special budget or subcommittee had to be mustered. Yet one third of nasty traffic on Silom simply vanished that day.

For years many developers shunned Silom, as did many home-buyers for health reasons. Last Monday’s vendor ban turned around the perception that city living in Bangkok means high stress, putrid smells and total disorder.

Far more can be gained by expelling vendors, and much stands to be lost if they are continued to encroach on public property unchecked.

To be sure, parasitic elements have for years killed property values at many main thoroughfares. The explosion of street vendors destroyed once-thriving shopping centres along Silom when they became impossible to access.

Malls are deserted, and some sections such as Mahesak and lower Suriwong roads feel like ghost towns on some days.

Central’s old headquarters on Silom also suffered over the years because of the vendor-made jams. Once-bustling malls like the Silom Trade Centre and Charn Issara also saw sharp declines in users.

Many major outlets like supermarkets, restaurants and brand-goods shops were forced to close or downsize. Where parking lots were once full, they are now empty when offices shut.

In contrast, land on Sukhumvit jumped threefold from Bt100,000 to Bt300,000 per wah within the past two years while Silom’s prices have been in a flux since the crash of 1997.

Many shops and boutiques have lost business because unruly vendors have blocked their window displays or impeded visitors coming in.

Patpong, one of the most expensive inner-city areas a decade back, is now a shell of its former self. It can’t even really trap tourists, many of whom prefer to avoid bad traffic and packed vendor stalls.

In a recent push to clean up its act, Patpong cleared some areas. While the results are positive, it may have been too little too late for revival.

Once shoppers leave, it is usually a permanent exodus, as behaviour patterns are difficult to repair. This is why very few people want to live in Chinatown today. Nightmares about overcrowded areas, the smell of diesel and clogged drains continue to haunt visitors decades later.

But other areas can be saved. The Monday ban can be extended to cover more days and protect other areas as well.

When vendors leave, they take with them other parasites such as organised beggars, street-children gangs and hooligans who are responsible for many of the petty crimes in the city centre.

Before he September 11 World Trade Centre attack, then New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was most famous for cleaning up the city by banning parasitic groups such as street children and other derelict elements.

Bangkok would do well to imitate his success.

A follow-up action plan could include mandatory fumigation of the inner-city sites. Through years of neglect, the sewers and drains are now in need of a hygienic hosing down to rid them of massive cockroach colonies and a deadly rat population that feeds on the filthy underbelly of the city.

These pests are carriers of deadly diseases and pose serious threats to densely populated urban sectors.

Fumigation is not expensive, and at a time when bird flu threatens to cross over and affect human settlements, developers and city officials have a duty to protect citizens.

Also more can be done to improve the quality of life in other traffic-wrecked sites such as Rama IV, Sukhumvit and Bang Na.

If Klong Toey port and oil refineries were moved out of the city centre promptly, as planned decades ago, the overall effect on Bangkok would be beneficial indeed.

Currently too much money, time and fuel are wasted allowing industrial trucks through the city, where they have no business.

The amount of road repairs caused by overloaded container trucks is staggering.

They also constitute the core reason why highways are jammed and are often involved in terrible accidents.

Not improving the city’s living standards has dire consequences for the real-estate market.

With the new push by government and developers to get more foreigners to buy up the oversupply of expensive properties in Bangkok, luring overseas cash requires that Bangkok first upgrade itself.

The most educated and desirable foreign buyers are the most demanding about the city’s ability to adopt proper civil planning and regulations to control pollution, noise and stress.

Unless Bangkok lifts itself out of its still third-world ambience, it cannot seriously expect to command first-world prices for its properties.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation

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