Phan Rang - Thap Cham walking street temporarily closed

Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Le Hoai Nam - Chairman of the People's Committee of Phan Rang Ward ( Khanh Hoa Province) - said that Phan Rang - Thap Cham walking street has temporarily stopped operating since the end of June.

According to Mr. Nam, before July 1, the People's Committee of Phan Rang - Thap Cham city had a document reporting the results of the walking street's activities.

Accordingly, the Phan Rang - Thap Cham walking street was approved by the People's Committee of the former Ninh Thuan province to be piloted from April 2024. This street stretches through central roads such as Tran Quang Dieu, Hoang Dieu, 16/4... with a total investment of more than 13 billion VND.

However, after the initial boom, the walking street quickly fell into a state of desertion. The OCOP booths that were once expected to become places to promote local specialties gradually thinned out due to low purchasing power, lack of promotional support and high space costs. From the initial 29 OCOP booths, there are now no more participating units.

Mr. Nguyen Quang, a merchant who used to run an OCOP stall here, said that the walking street only operates on Friday and Saturday nights each week, so the number of customers is low. Meanwhile, the stalls have to be cleaned up and the space is restored, and the transportation and storage costs are very high, so the business is almost unprofitable.

Meanwhile, to maintain operations, the People's Committee of Phan Rang - Thap Cham City previously had to regularly organize performances, hire personnel to ensure security, environmental sanitation, lighting, maintenance of water music systems, public toilets, etc. but had no stable source of income, leading to budget difficulties.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa province - said that the temporary suspension of the walking street is to serve the process of rearranging administrative units according to the two-level local government model. After the administrative units operate stably, the locality will study to reorganize this activity on a more appropriate and effective scale.