Hanoi wants downtown residents to create space for parking lots

By Vo Hai   June 23, 2019 | 05:47 pm PT
Hanoi wants downtown residents to create space for parking lots
Lacking space for parking lots, Hanoi has to let cars park right on the streets at some downtown roads. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh.
In an effort to find parking space, Hanoi is planning to ask people owning downtown properties to invest in parking lots.

The city People’s Council, the legislature, is soliciting opinions on a directive to those owning houses and lands in the districts of Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Hai Ba Trung, and Dong Da in the city center to create space for parking lots in their properties.

They will be allowed to collect parking fees and offered tax incentives.

In case of underground parking lots, investors can use 30 percent of the space for other commercial purposes.

In May authorities gave approval to HimLamBC Investment JSC (HLI) to invest in an underground parking lot under Thu Le Park in Ba Dinh District by the end of 2020 at a cost of VND1.8 trillion ($77 million).

The construction will cover 72,000 square meters (86,100 square yards) on six floors, with the first basement of around 16,000 sq.m used mostly for shops and restaurants.

According to plans approved last year by the People’s Council, by 2030 the city will have 1,480 public parking lots. Of them 74, mainly in the inner city, will be underground and 450 will be high-rise.

At a meeting with voters in Hoan Kiem District last year Nguyen Duc Chung, the city chairman, said private companies would be contracted to build parking lots to resolve parking problems.

The city’s 7.5 million residents have 5.2 million motorbikes and around 550,000 cars, while outsiders bring some 1.2 million bikes, according to police figures. But the land available for parking and public parking lots only meet 8-10 percent of their needs, and the rest are forced to park in places like hospitals, office buildings, sidewalks, alleys, schools, and vacant lands at construction projects.

 
 
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