Area around HCMC’s iconic Turtle Lake becomes weekend pedestrian mall
The area surrounding HCMC’s Turtle Lake in District 3 has become a pedestrian mall on the weekends to create more public space in the city.
Starting January 8, vehicles will be banned from circling the lake from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
The pedestrian area will be a venue to organize cultural events, photo exhibitions, and book streets.
The fund to operate the pedestrian mall will come mainly from private investors, with a small portion from the District 3 budget.
Around 1.3km of sidewalk on streets around the lake, such as Pham Ngoc Thach, Tran Cao Van, and Vo Van Tan, was upgraded last year at a cost of VND15 billion ($640,702).
District 3 also has a plan to upgrade the lake later.
The traffic circle at Turtle Lake is called Cong Truong Quoc Te. It is the meeting points of Pham Ngoc Thach, Tran Cao Van and Vo Van Tan streets.
Before the pedestrian mall at Turtle Lake was opened, HCMC had two pedestrian streets: Nguyen Hue St., which opened in 2015, and Bui Vien St., which started operation in 2017.
By Ha Giang – VnExpress.net – January 10, 2023