Phnom Penh officials have agreed to allow vendors who sell heavy items to set up their shops on the ground floor of the renovated O’Russei market.
However, officials still refuse the vendors’ request to cut the rent by half, said Nget Chaddavy, director of the city’s financial department. Of more than 4,000 vendors who were at the old market, about 480 have paid rent so far and negotiations with the others “have mostly reached agreements,” Nget Chaddavy said.
Vendors had protested and had a few meetings with Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara to discuss their demands. The vendors wanted booth rates, of between $1,900 to $3,300 to be paid over 20 years, to be cut by at least 50 percent.
They also had complained that the prime ground-floor space was going to new renters. Chea Sophara has said the contract for the rent prices had already been set and could not be changed. An opening date for the newly renovated market has not been set.
