HÀ NỘI – Following the parking practices in the Philippines, Hà Nội’s Department of Transportation is asking the municipal People’s Committee for permission to convert roadways into long-term parking zones.

The proposal was announced by the department this morning in a meeting after a discussion on the piloting of software solutions and automation in managing the operations of public parking zones in the capital city.

Ngô Mạnh Tuấn, deputy director of the Transportation Department, said that by the beginning of next year, the city will pilot the automatic parking fee collection, starting with the central district of Hoàn Kiếm.

The rationale behind the move is that currently in all parking areas in the city, and specifically the Hoàn Kiếm District area, parking fees are collected manually, making the management of fee collection difficult and easily leading to losses.

According to Tuấn, the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) will be the optimal model to implement, as evidenced by the successes achieved in the Philippines.

Due to the hi-tech nature of the model, payback period will be predictably long, therefore, the Transportation Department asked the People’s Committee to grant usage of roadways for at least five more years, instead of the current under six month licences.

At the meeting, many voiced their apprehension that the placement of parking zones on the roadways, in the already narrow roads of the city, will exacerbate traffic congestion, especially in the crowded and touristic Hoàn Kiếm District.

A delegate from the city’s Department of Science and Technology also questioned the Transportation Department’s choice of following the Philippines’ model.

“Shouldn’t we instead look to other more developed countries such as Singapore or Thailand as an example?” he asked.

Others suggested studying the efficiency of parking collection methods currently used in HCM City or Đà Nẵng City that could be applied in Hà Nội, and whether some aspects of that method could be improved upon and adjusted.

Some delegates were concerned about who will be tasked with the management of such automatic fee collection, and how the collection activities are supervised and monitored to avoid losses.

The department has so far granted licences to eight companies to operate parking zones with a total area of 12,000 sq.m. However, it will stop granting more licences starting from 2017. – VNS