Bangkok governor battles floods, red tape to attract investment

BANGKOK — On a rainy Wednesday in August, Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt woke up at 4 a.m. for his daily run. Sukhumvit Road was still quiet and devoid of its usual congestion, but a fellow early riser heckled the governor on his plan to remove the city’s sidewalk vendors.

Chadchart, a civil engineer by training, sees it as a problem of supply and demand. Bangkok would be unrecognizable without the food stalls that provide cheap eats for workers and tourists. But space is a limited resource, and the governor has proposed designating certain alleys for vendors and creating more hawker centers.