HCMC prepares sidewalks for fee collection in 2024

Over the past few days, lines have been drawn on the sidewalks of Nguyen Trai Street in District 1 to reserve a 1.5 m-wide area for vehicle parking. The other section of the sidewalks, spanning around 2 m in width, would be for pedestrians.

"The vehicles would be neatly lined up into rows, and there will be people to watch over them. They will not be placed messily like before, making the sidewalks tidier," said Thanh Nam, a security guard of a shoe store in the area.

Nguyen Trai Street is a downtown road known for its numerous fashion stores, with high demands for vehicle parking every day. However, most of the shops along the streets do not have dedicated parking spots, meaning vehicles have been invading the sidewalks for years. Once HCMC's plan to launch its fee collection scheme for parking on sidewalks is realized next year, it is hoped that there would be more order when it comes to parking and doing business.

Starting Jan. 1, HCMC will introduce new policies regarding the management of streets and sidewalks, where certain activities may be allowed on them with a cost at between VND20,000 (82 U.S. cents) and VND350,000 ($14.50) per square meter, depending on the location. Sidewalks for these activities must be at least 3 m-wide, with at least 1.5 m reserved for pedestrians.

In District 1, there are around 154 other road sections, besides Nguyen Trai, with sidewalks wide enough for the policies to be applied. 84 sections are expected to become self-managed parking places, 54 sections would be used as places for businesses, and 16 other sections will become parking spaces with fees.

Vu Nguyen Quang Vinh, vice chairman of District 1 People's Committee, said the urban management department of the district has gathered opinions of relevant units to finalize the list of eligible streets. Several streets have completed preparations for the policy to be applied, he added.

A representative of the District 3 People's Committee said sidewalks on 36 roads in the area, like Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, Cao Thang and Cach Mang Thang Tam, would be eligible for the new policies. District 3 will draw lines or erect barricades so people can recognize the sidewalk sections for pedestrians and the sections for fee collection. The representative said the district was awaiting instructions on how exactly the fees would be collected.

Nguyen Ngoc Minh, deputy head of the urban management department of Binh Thanh District, said the district has named 18 roads eligible for the policies, and is considering more roads in the next year. The district is also awaiting instructions on the fee collection, he said.

Ngo Hai Duong, head of the road traffic infrastructure management division under the Department of Transport, said the unit was finishing documents on how the fee collection would be conducted, and these documents would need to be approved by city authorities.

HCMC will pick out certain roads for fee collection as a trial, and the fee collection would be consented between homeowners and those who rent the space.

"The fee collection is not to generate income, but to create order on the streets," Duong said, adding that the fees would be collected through digital means, where cash use would be limited. The unit is finishing proposals to build software to manage such a system, before announcing the prices and how fees would be collected, he added.

HCMC currently has over 4,800 roads that are at least 5 m in width, with 2,600 of them having no sidewalks. For many years, sidewalks have been encroached to do business or park vehicles, affecting traffic and aesthetics. While teams have been deployed to clean up the sidewalks in the past, the effects did not last long.