Central Market C13 (Thanh Truong Ward, Dien Bien Phu City, Dien Bien Province) was built and put into use since December 2023, with a scale of 120 booths (72 kiosks in the main market, 48 kiosks in corrugated iron houses) and an outdoor sales area of 420m2.
However, up to now, only about a dozen stalls have traders signing lease contracts, causing the market to operate ineffectively, not taking full advantage of its potential and wasting investment resources from the State.
According to the reporter's research, the project "Upgrading and constructing Market C13 Phase II, Thanh Truong Ward" has a total investment of over 13 billion VND, invested by the Project Management Board of Dien Bien Phu City. This project was handed over to Thanh Truong ward, Dien Bien Phu city for management and exploitation according to regulations from April 2024.
Ms. Phan Thi Dung - a household appliance trader - is one of the few business households that have rented and used kiosks since December 2024 - said that the cost of renting 3 kiosks here is 3.7 million VND/month. However, the number of customers coming to buy is not very positive.
Ms. Dung said that on average, only 3-6 customers come to shop and sell for 100,000 to 500,000 VND/day.
"The market is built big and beautiful but the number of visitors is very small. Maybe there are not many people in this area, or people now prefer large shopping malls in the city" - Ms. Dung commented.
It is worth mentioning that more than 1km from the C13 Central Market, a new spontaneous market (in Thanh Truong Ward) has become bustling. On a land area of more than 2,500m2, within just 2 weeks, this place has attracted a large number of people to buy and sell, even setting up dozens of temporary shelters.
Discussing this issue, a representative of the People's Committee of Thanh Truong Ward, Dien Bien Phu City - said that the C13 Center market model is not suitable for the actual needs of the people.
Center Market C13 is built in the direction of commercial services, not a traditional market, leading to high rental costs.
While the population and daily consumption of goods in the area are not commensurate, business here has become difficult, leading to ineffective market operations and not fully exploiting its functions.
"We are currently continuing to encourage traders to enter the market to maintain operations. Initially, we only need enough money to pay for environmental sanitation and protection staff, but it is still very difficult" - this leader added.
