In
the next five years, Hanoi will need VND260 trillion, equivalent to $12.9
billion to develop traffic gridlocks, according to the Hanoi Transport
Department’s plan.

The Department on April 19, submitted to Hanoi authorities, the plan to develop the
city’s transport infrastructure to 2015.

Under the plan, the city will give priority to build the
belt roads 2 and 3, with some sections running overhead. Particularly, the belt
road 2, the section running from the Vinh Tuy bridge to Nhat Tan, will be
finalized in the next five years to create a complete belt route. The remaining
sections of the belt road 1 will be also finished. The construction of the belt
road 4 will be implemented.

Notably, Hanoi
will build around 40 underground and multi-story parking lots, using modern
technology; to deal with the shortage of parking lots in the city. The current
parking lots will be upgraded. The total area for parking lots will be around
300-426 hectares.

According to the department, the land for traffic in Hanoi is very limited,
which accounts for 7-8 percent of the urban land, while the necessary area must
reach 20-26 percent. It asked the city government to make a breakthrough in
developing transport infrastructure to solver traffic jams in the city.

The department proposed to invest $13 billion to develop
traffic facilities, including one third for building belt roads, $2.5 billion
to build major roads inside the city and $790 million to build national
highways running to the city center.

The department’s director Nguyen Quoc Hung, said “that
capital will be raised from many channels, including the state budget, the city
budget and from private sources.”

Tran Duc Vu, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of
Planning and Development, said “that the capital for this plan - $13 billion –
is huge so the city can allocate up to half of the capital.” Vu suggested Hanoi to raise funds for
this plan from auctioning the land use right of its land.

Nguyen Van Duc, Deputy Director of the local Department of
Construction, said “the transport department needs to estimate the growth of
population and personal vehicles in the upcoming years, otherwise its plan will
not match with the city’s growth.”

Duc also proposed to restrict the construction of high-rise
building in the city and relax population density in the inner area.

The Hanoi Institute for Planning and Construction claimed
that it is very difficult to build four belt roads in five years. It is also
unfeasible to build such many parking-lots in the city.

Hanoi Vice Chair, Nguyen Van Khoi, agreed with the Transport
Department’s plan. He said that Hanoi
needs to build more parking-lots at the belt roads 2 and 3, restrict population
growth in the center and ask high-rise buildings to have enough parking space
for its residents and guests.

PV