Feature: Vietnam's pavement campaign rocky road to right end

A middle-aged women rushed out to clear chairs spread onto the pavement surrounding her noodle stall when she saw a police patrol car coming.

"Comrades, quickly remove the stands near the power poles," the speaker on the patrol car boomed.

Along the narrow Hang Dieu Street nearby Hanoi's Old Quarter, street vendors with fear on their faces urgently shuttered their opened stands, lifting down the tiny shop signs hung on nearby trees.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi, like many other cities of Vietnam, has been engrossed in an iron-fist "sidewalk campaign" these days, which was launched in early March and aimed at recovering the pavements for pedestrians.

Local authorities initially reported encouraging results of the campaign, with street vendors expelled from their sidewalk stands, illegal structures demolished, chairs and tables of cafes and eateries set outside the shops seized, while vehicles in no-parking zones were towed away.

"The pavement looks more spacious now and pedestrians feel more secure when walking. To some extent, traffic has become more disciplined," Do Quang Thai, a state employee working in an office near the city's downtown Tran Hung Dao Street told Xinhua.

"The local authorities seem to be more serious this time than ever before," the 30-year-old man said optimistically, adding that a similar campaign was launched in 2008 but did not last.

To emphasize the authorities' determination, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in his latest cabinet meeting, commended the efforts of localities who rolled up their sleeves for the common goal.

Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General To Lam also urged police nationwide to lend a helping hand to authorities in the campaign.

However, not everyone is happy with the hard-and-fast campaign, especially those relying on the sidewalks to eke out a living.

For decades, pavements in big cities in general, and Hanoi in particular, have been ideal places for vendors to sell vegetables, fruits, flowers and domestic goods, which constituted the so-called "sidewalk economy" and has provided decent incomes for thousands of Vietnamese households.

According to United Nations Development Programme's Vietnam Human Development 2015 Report, up to two-thirds of the country's labor force were employed in the informal sector, of which the sidewalk economy is the dominating part in major cities.

"I don't know what to do in the future. My six-member family relies solely on my business selling noodles," street vendor Tran Thi Cuc said, while sneakily selling noodles at lunchtime on Doi Can Street.

With nervous eyes, she scanned the streets saying: "It's the police patrol's lunch time in this area, so they hopefully won't be on the lookout right now."

It has been five years since the 41-year-old woman and her husband moved from a small village in their native central Thanh Hoa province to Hanoi.

Every month the couple managed to send money home for Cuc's 80-year-old mother who has been taking care of her three children.

"We were asked to abandon our stall without any proper notice. We are unable to change our business overnight," Cuc told Xinhua.

"Right now, if the police chase me, I'll run away, but would soon return to doing my job. There's no other choice for me, since I can't afford renting a shop," she said, powerlessly.

With street vendors being a common feature in developing countries, including Vietnam, Ed Weinberg, an American residing in Vietnam for five years, said the latest campaign was somewhat regrettable.

"Personally, one of the things I love most about Hanoi is the cafes by the West Lake. Now the shop owners are not allowed to place seats outside where customers can drink coffee and view the lake at the same time, and it's really a pity," said Weinberg.

He went on to admit that Hanoi is increasingly overcrowding, but "there are so many simple ways to make your day more beautiful, natural and connected. And the street is part of that."

Hanoi, as well as many other cities, might not have fully considered the actions' impacts when it initially tried to fast-track its goal of becoming a well-organized city.

"Shall poor people like us still have a place to run a business in the modern cities in the future?" Cuc questioned, with both hope and sadness in her voice.

Now, as more and more problems arise from the campaign's over-enthusiasm and haste, urban governments are urgently seeking for measures to win the public confidence - the only way to maintain their goals.

Successful case studies of developed countries have been made by the local media to advise the policymakers.

Under a pilot scheme, southern Ho Chi Minh City has legalized sidewalk businesses on some specific streets and areas, such as Nguyen Van Chiem Street and Bach Tung Diep Park. In the same vein, Hanoi is also exploring the feasibility of such an initiative.

"I pray for a suitable and legal way to survive in this bustling and overcrowded city," said Cuc, the female noodle vendor, somewhat despondently. Endit