Two more book streets to open in HCM City by year-end

Vo Van Long, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications, told a recent press conference that each of the new book streets will be able to cater to citizens of two or three nearby districts. 

Au Lac Park in HCM City’s District 5 has been chosen to a new book street and construction is scheduled to start in September, said Trinh Huu Anh, deputy director of the Division of Publication and Printing under the department. 

In addition, the department will continue working with district authorities to look for another appropriate site for the remaining one.

Previously, the municipal government had expected each district to have at least one book street. However, considering infrastructure conditions and book readers’ actual demand , the Department of Information and Communications suggested every two or three districts should have one book street.

The development of new book streets in the coming time will depend on the specific demand of each particular area.

In the first six months of 2017, the book street on Nguyen Van Binh road attracted more than 1.2 million visitors, a sharp increase compared to 2016 when the area saw an average number of 4,000-4,500 visitors a day and 1.5 million visitors in the whole year.

Currently, the book street is home to booths and stands manned by nearly 20 publishing houses nationwide, media companies and book collectors.