HCM City should consider building car parks across Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè and Tàu Hủ canals in order to cope with traffic congestion downtown, according to Mai Trọng Tuấn, a retired pilot.– Photo thehyco4tower.com

HCM CITY – HCM City should consider building car parks across Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè and Tàu Hủ canals in order to cope with traffic congestion downtown, according to Mai Trọng Tuấn, a retired pilot.

Tuấn has had the idea since 2008, but the most difficult problem was finding the proper place for his idea because where there was land, there was no demand for parking and where there was very high demand for parking, there was no land or land was sold at a very high price.

“At that time, local authorities paid attention to underground parking and did not pay attention to my suggestion about car parking across the surface of canals,” Tuấn told with the Người Lao Động (The Labourer) newspaper.

However, until now, many underground parking projects haven’t been built and the city plans to build a car park across Công trường Lam Sơn, District 1.

“Demand for parking in District 1 is not being met and local authorities are looking hard to find other places to build more parking,” Tuấn added.

Tuấn revealed that a proper place for car parking must meet many criteria, including being near downtown where parking demand is very high. In addition, such places should be well connected with good transport infrastructure, where owners can walk or travel by public transportation in a very short distance.

“Investors don‘t need to pay a lot of money for ground compensation and they can recover investment and make profit in a short time,” Tuấn said.

With these requirements, Tuấn suggested that the space on the surface of Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè and Tàu Hủ canals are the most suitable places for parking.

Such a parking frame would be installed on the surface of canals like bridges. They could contain 5 to 6 floors with a height of 18m.

Tuấn estimated that these two canals can install at least 30 parking frames with total capacity of 12,000 cars and the number could increase to 20,000.

“Such a parking frame won’t take up land downtown and can ease traffic congestion with a very short time of construction. Such frames can also be removed and moved easily,” Tuấn said.

Dr Nguyễn Hữu Nguyên, urban economy expert from the Việt Nam Urban Development Master Plan Association, said the suggestion from Mai Trọng Tuấn is possible because such a parking frame can be decorated with different colours and they would make canals more colourful, lively and would develop tourism on canals.

Others are more skeptical.

“Tuấn’s suggestion has many good points and the local authorities should pay attention but parking frames on the surface of canals are not suitable because it might destroy scenery and affect the daily life of local residents,” architecture Ngô Viết Nam Sơn said.

“In the long term, the city should announce a master plan for parking places, apply different parking prices for downtown and outskirts, limit granting business licences or request parking capacity of businesses,” he added.

Nguyễn Minh Đồng, a German-Vietnamese engineer, said nowhere in the world have car parks being built over canals, and in Tô Lịch river, Hà Nội, previous parking frames have been destroyed.

“90 per cent of the suggestion is impossible because many architects in the world have considered the suggestion but they ended up not building it,” transport expert Phạm Sanh said.

“We have received the suggestion from Mai Trọng Tuấn, but Hà Nội’s policy is not to take advantage of the surface space of canals for building. Therefore, we won’t consider the suggestion of Tuấn,” Vũ Văn Viện, director of Hà Nội’s Transport Department said.

Right now in HCM City, nine smart parking projects have been started in nine hospitals and there have been some other suggestions for multi-floor parking frames in September 23 Park, Công trường Lam Sơn, District 1, Gia Định Park in Gò Vấp District and Lý Thường Kiệt Apartment in District 10.

Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Thành Phong has set up a task force, led by deputy chairman of the People’s Committee Lê Văn Khoa, to speed up underground parking projects in HCM City. — VNS