Covering an area of 13,000 square meters, Ben Thanh Market in District 1 has long been a tourist magnet in the southern metropolis attracting thousands of foreign visitors every year before the pandemic.
Built in 1870 by the French, the market was initially called Les Halles Centrales, before being renamed Ben Thanh in 1912.
However, the market's unmaintained interior now shows the ugly wears of time.
Ho Chi Minh City last year approved a renovation plan for the market, and District 1 authorities last week proposed a specific plan to upgrade the market at a cost of VND140 billion (US$5.7 million).
The renovation project's main goal is fixing the market's leaky roof at a cost of VND95 billion.
Other work includes upgrading drainage, electricity supply, fire prevention and fighting systems, as well as paving the floor.
For nearly two years now, vendors at the market have had to drape plastic sheets over their stalls to shield them from rainwater leakage.
"The leakage is most serious in the fashion item section," said a handbag vendor named Cong Tuan. "Sometimes when it rains too heavily, water flows all over the floors and dampens the goods."
A vendor puts a plastic wash basin on top of a stall to collect rainwater.
It is now the rainy season in HCMC and throughout southern Vietnam.
Many of the market's floor tiles are cracked and broken.
District 1 authorities have proposed repaving the market's entire 10,000 sq.m floor.
The roof of the market seen from above.
The renovation work will replace the corrugated iron roof with red tiles.
The project will also replace the fake corrugated iron roof with tile material similar to the structure's original build. The vents in the roof will be rebuilt to ensure ventilation inside the market.
According to the District 1 People's Committee, the renovation work aims to improve the conditions of the market while keeping the original architecture intact.
