Klong Toei vendors win court reprieve in battle for market area

The injunction came as thousands of vendors complained of alleged violence by a company - Legal Professional - in its attempt to push the vendors out.

The conflict in the market started in mid-year when the previous concessionaire's contract to use the land ended. The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) launched a development project to auction off the 22.84-rai land, covering the fresh market and commercial buildings.

Some 3,000 vendors and business operators held a July 24 protest,claiming a project worth over Bt1 billion must first undergo a public hearing to study its impact on communities.

The protesters submitted a letter to the then transport minister to have the PAT cancel the auction, leading the PAT to back off and negotiations were organised.

With a downsized project to develop 10.18 rai of land worth Bt600 million in hand, the PAT announced cancellation of the Bt1 billion project and opened an online bid for this smaller-scale project on August 7.

Legal Professional beat five other bidders to win the project on October 27, despite a reported long record of poor business performance. The firm suffered an Bt800,000 loss in its operating results last year.

In the contract to lease the land from the PAT, the company stated it would pay Bt613 million per year to the PAT throughout the 10-year period, the highest offer which enabled the firm to win the bidding .

In the meantime, protesting vendors at Klong Toei market began to receive threats to lives and property. A shooting and a bomb throwing at vendors took place on November 11.

There were four bomb attacks on November 13 and 18 while some uniformed or plainclothes army officials reportedly showed up to threaten vendors on many occasions. Some shops were damaged.

The vendors submitted letters of complaint to 32 related agencies such as the PM's Office, Office of the Ombudsman, Administrative Court, Royal Thai Police and Supreme Command Headquarters. This led to the army and police authorities summonsing a number of army officials and ordering them not to enter the market area.

Since November 11, the protesting vendors have blocked the road in front of the market.

Legal Professional must remove shops as part of the market's development. A deadline was set for April 2009 and the firm brought the case to court and received an order for the vendors' evacuation of the market.

In response, the vendors sent 19 representatives as plaintiffs to the Civil Court, suing the PAT, the PAT Board, the Port Director and Legal Professional. The protesters also sought the court's temporary protection, which suspended the firm's management of the area. The protesters asked the Civil Court to cancel the market plans.

The Klong Toei market was Bangkok's largest full-circle fresh market, reportedly feeding half the city's residents through its cheaper goods sold at some 3,000 shops. Over 10,000 people made a living in the market area including vendors, hired hands and motorcycle taxis. After the three-company concessionaire's lease contract ended in 2004, a subsidiary of the Temasek Group reportedly considered investing in the market area development as this 137-rai square-shaped land was on a prime location. However, facing protests, the PAT granted the concession to the old concessionaire for another 2-3 years, until the contract expired and a new development project presented a range of new problems.