Parking problems drive Ho Chi Minh City planners underground

Underground parking is the only solution for Ho Chi Minh City’s parking woes

Ho Chi Minh City is calling for local and foreign investors to drive towards a large-scale underground parking project in the city’s downtown area.
The detailed master plan of the project unveiled last week envisages developing the two-hectare parking lot, with up to 70 per cent of total area for parking and the rest for trading and support services to alleviate a dearth of parking in the city.
The zone, to be located in District 1’s Nguyen Hue Boulevard, will be able to accommodate 1,400 cars or 1,000 cars and 2,000 motorcycles at maximum. The project will require an estimated investment capital of $50-$60 million.
“We are calling for local and foreign sources as well as the involvement of infrastructure developers, to develop this project,” said Nguyen Nhu Hiep, manager of the municipal Department of Transport and Public Works (DoTPW)’s planning and investment division.
“Investors committed to finish this project before 2010 will be offered incentives, including a 3 per cent interest project loan assisted by the municipal budget. Local and foreign investors will receive equal treatment. A modern design is encouraged since the project will be in the form of domestic or foreign build-operate-transfer (BOT). That is why we have not limited the cost for this project,” he said.
Hiep also said that there were now at least six local and foreign investors eyeing the project, with three of them having sent their proposals to the DoTPW. The investors have 30 days to carry out their preliminary report after registering.
Along with the Nguyen Hue underground parking lot, there are seven other projects in the works, including Le Van Tam park, Hoa Lu stadium, Tao Dan stadium, and Bach Tung Diep park, Chi Lang park, Nguyen Du street, Lam Son square which are invested by IUS, Indochina, TTC, Elinco, Hoa Binh, respectively. Most of them are in the central city and the investors are conducting investment research.
The department has also asked those investors to quickly complete their survey and research phases and submit designs for upcoming implementation phase.
Ho Chi Minh City is now home to more than three million motorbikes, 300,000 automobiles, and tens of thousands of bicycles. These exclude 2,700 coaches and 6,000 trucks daily arriving in the city from other provinces.
Meanwhile, the city only has 10 parking lots with a combined area of eight hectares, much lower than the estimated need of more than 250ha for parking.
The municipal government is encouraging domestic and foreign investors to build underground carparks in response to mounting demand for vehicle shelters.



No. 788/November 20-26, 2006