HCM City officials plan to collect fees for use of pavements and roadsides for parking and commercial purposes and build more underground parking lots . . .

Cars park along HCM City‘s Nguyen Hue city Street. The city plans to collect fees for use of pavement to reduce parking congestion.

He said vendors operating on pavements and streets were contributing to congested streets.

The fees are part of a temporary solution that would help improve State management of the roads until more underground parking lots are built.

Pham Phuong Thao, chairwoman of the city People’s Council, said the fees charged for use of pavements and roadsides for parking and commercial purposes should be flexible, depending on location and time of use.

Speaking at a conference held in HCM City last week, Nguyen said the city of 8 million people has four million motorbikes and 400,000 cars travelling on its streets every day.

Many motorbikes are parked on pavements in front of buildings used for commercial purposes, blocking walkways.

“Underground parking lots and high-rise buildings with parking lots are fundamental and long-term solutions to keep the roads clean and uncrowded,” Nguyen said.

Dr Nguyen Thi Hau, deputy head of the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, said the number of privately owned cars needed to be limited, and routes devoted exclusively to public transport should be set up.

Improved public transport would also help commercial activity at supermarkets and shops located in bus or metro stations, Hau said.

The 300ha Phu My Hung new urban area in District 7, the country’s first such model, was a good example for the city to follow in developing civilised streets, said Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee.

The management of commercial activity and parking on pavements is part of the city’s civility campaign, launched last year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News