If you have tired yourself from visiting the China market on Relief Road, then its time you thought about the new Thai street market that will soon come up near Subhash Bridge. The project is being developed by the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The market is being set up at the newly constructed ST bus terminus. It would house small shops selling accessories imported from Thailand.
The non-branded stuff like perfume, clothes, imitation jewellery and others would be available at affordable rates in the market.
“The street market will have around 200 small shops providing all such products from Thailand.
As each shop will have exclusive products, there will not be any competition among them,” said Bindiya Shah, joint managing director of Cube Construction Engineering, the company working with GSRTC on the PPP model. Apart from accessories, Thai cuisine will also be there.
The market will not have any branded items taking into consideration the clientele it would cater to. The project has been developed for GSRTC as bus terminus. So, a majority of the customers are expected to come from rural areas.
“We want to provide an affordable market to people of lower and middle income groups so that they do not have to go to Manek Chowk and Teen Darwaza markets,” said Shah.
Though goods will be imported from Thailand, the market will provide an opportunity to local people to do business as it is not viable for the Thais to come over here on small business.
However, there will be a few Thai faces, too, to give some flavour to the market, said Shah.
The market is coming up following the signing of memorandum of understanding by the governments of India and Thailand to promote business in each other’s country. According to the agreement, the company would also promote business from Gujarat in Thailand by holding trade fairs in that country.
In the current slowdown scenario, the company is providing a different business model to customers for making the market viable.
The company is not only betting big on the footfall at the market but also providing options like lease, rent,
sale and even partnership model, said Pravin Bavadiya, chairman and managing director of City Estate Management. Bavadiya, chairman and managing director of City Estate Management.