The HCMC Department of Transport has drawn up a plan for doing away with many roadside and sidewalk parking areas to cope with the worsening traffic congestion.

The department in its draft plan insists on revoking permits of parking services on the pavements of 71 streets as well as on 34 others in the city.

Upon the recent review of many congested streets, the department has realized the current car parking on the roadside has caused traffic congestion that gets much more severe during rush hours.

Under the proposal, District 5 will have the most parking areas on or along the streets to be removed, at 32 sites, followed by District 10 with 18 sites.

The department also calls for removing all trading venues on the sidewalks along 112 streets citywide.

At the end of last year, local authorities approved a plan to disallow parking service at ten road sections in the city’s center.

In reality, the city is trying to speed up the construction of public parking spaces to meet increasing demands from local residents.

Work started on the first parking lot on March 23 in Co Giang Ward in District 1 by Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation (Samco) as the developer.  The ten-storey work covers a total area of 13,000 square meters.

Similarly, the underground parking area project under Le Van Tam Park is set to be kicked off in August this year.

The department in the draft plan also proposes parking spaces for automobiles and motorcycles along a number of newly-built roads until planned parking area schemes are complete.

Source: SGT