Public square set for HCMC’s Ben Thanh Market

A plan has been approved to spend VND157 billion (US$6.42 million) on building a public square in front of Ben Thanh Market in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.

Covering an area of 45,800 sq.m, the square will be paved with natural granite stones and have a park where the statues of Quach Thi Trang, a student who died in a protest against the Saigon regime during the Vietnam War, and Tran Nguyen Han, a military expert who helped Vietnam ward off Chinese invasions in the 15th century, will be reinstalled.

It will also have a lighting system aside from several other public utilities, Vu Nguyen Quang Vinh, deputy chairman of District 1 told a city meeting on Saturday.

Built with the city budget, the square is set for completion by April next year.

In 2017 the Quach Thi Trang Roundabout in front of the market, for long an icon of HCMC, was demolished to build the Ben Thanh station on metro line No.1.

Trang and Han’s statues were earlier removed and installed elsewhere in the city.

In late 2022, traffic lights and a zebra crossing for pedestrians were installed in the area as the construction of the metro station was finished after eight years.

The four-story station goes just over 30 meters below ground and is 235 meters long and 60 meters wide.

It will be the most important of three underground stations on the route, which will run 19.7 km from Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien theme park in Thu Duc City. It will also serve as an interchange with lines No. 2, 3 and 4 when they are built.

The metro line, which will be the first in HCMC, is set for commercial operation next year.

By Le Tuyet – VnExpress.net – October 14, 2023