Lê Văn Tám Park on Hai Bà Trưng Street in HCM City’s District 1. VNS File Photo

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has ordered the termination of the contract with the Investment and Development for Underground Space Corporation to build an underground parking lot at Lê Văn Tám Park in District 1.

In a document it sent to the Department of Transport, it said the deal is being terminated because of the developer’s breach of contract and lack of capacity to carry out the work.

IUS, the contractor, has failed to complete the technical design, remove trees or get a construction licence, the document said.

The People’s Committee has also instructed the Departments of Transport and Mineral Resources and Environment to withdraw the land use and investment licences issued to the company.

Đông Á Joint Stock Commercial Bank and IUS have been ordered to resolve the loans the former provided for the project.

To cost VNĐ1.748 trillion (US$75 million), the Lê Văn Tám Park lot will accommodate 1,300 cars and 2,000 motorbikes.

While its construction first began in 2008, the then developer was unable to indicate where the required funds would come from.

In 2009 the People’s Committee signed a build-operate-transfer contract with IUS and granted a licence.

In March 2017 the Department of Transport and other relevant agencies completed the paperwork, and IUS agreed to start the work by the end of that year.

But it did little to get the work off the ground.

HCM City plans to have four underground parking lots built by private investors, the other three being at Tao Đàn Park, Trống Đồng Stage and the Hoa Lư Stadium, also in District 1.

The lot under stadium will cost an estimated VNĐ3 trillion and have space for 2,550 cars and 2,870 motorbikes.

To cost VNĐ740 billion, the 10-level Trống Đồng lot will accommodate 890 cars and 400 motorbikes.

The Tao Đàn Park facility provides parking space for 1,200 cars and nearly 900 motorbikes, and cost VNĐ896 billion.

Illegal parking on pavements is rife in the city as a result of the shortage of public parking space. — VNS