The Hanoi Department of Transport has rejected a Ministry of Transport inspection report on the city’s use of pavements and roads.

The department denies the ministry’s claim that street parking lots are a problem

Head of the department Nguyen Quoc Hung on July 24 sent a document to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Transport to give an explanation to the issues raised by the inspectors.

Regarding the licensing of parking areas under bridges, the department said the areas had been set up before the ministry had issued Circular 39. According to the circular, the use of the space under bridges and overpasses for parking must receive permission from municipal or provincial People’s Committee.

The department also added that, it had received approval from the city’s People’s Committee for establishing parking lots under the overpasses at Mai Dich, Nga Tu So and Nga Tu Vong.

The Ministry of Transport pointed out some parking areas violated Circular 4. However, the department denied this, saying that it conformed to the ministry’s Circular 39.

According to Hung, the parking lots were licensed after the survey of the city departments of police and transport which showed that the roads did not face traffic jams and were safe for parking. He said that the licenses were just temporary.

For licensing parking areas in non-parking streets, Hung affirmed that the department had not given the go-ahead. The department had only issued temporary licenses for a parking area at an electric car station in line with regulations laid out by the city People’s Committee.

Meanwhile, parking lots on Tran Khanh Du and Tran Nhat Duat streets are not located on roads and had not affected traffic.

Groundless

Director of the Hanoi Department of Transport Nguyen Quoc Hung asserted that the ministry’s inspection of the city’s annual loss of VND20 billion (USD952,380) in the collection of pavement and road use fees was groundless.

He clarified that Hanoi Transport and Services Corporation (Transerco) is a municipal public service unit, so it had to pay fees equal to 2% of its revenues in line with the regulation of the city People’s Committee. Meanwhile, other units had to pay VND10,000-VND40,000 per square metre.

A parking lot on Dinh Tien Hoang Street besides Hoan Kiem Lake is considered a major problem by the Ministry of Transport

Source: Dtinews