Although in reality, this model has met many demands of citizens, its management and implementation are not official and transparent, leading to many obstacles. Great demand
Together with high population, the amount of private vehicles in Hanoi are constantly increasing. Currently, the city has over 55,000 cars. However, according to statistics of the Hanoi Department of Transportation, the land areas reserved for static transportation in Hanoi can only meet 8 – 10% of the parking demand. In other words, out of 10 cars, 9 will not know where to park. As a result, the number of illegal parking lots increases, especially in areas of projects that have been stopped or not been initiated. In reality, those so-called illegal parking lots are solving a great deal of parking demand. However, responsible agencies are also troubled by the management issue of those parking lots.
A parking lot in the site of unexecuted project in Nam Trung Yen urban area.
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The representative of the Hoang Mai transportation inspection team said that illegal parking lots need to receive punishments. However, in an objective perspective, those temporary illegal parking lots are solving realistic demand for residents in the short term. Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huyen (Hoang Liet, Hoang Mai) shared: “We hope for a parking lot. With the temporary empty lands, the government should allow us to park there. As they close those parking lots, where can we park?”
Searching for appropriate solutions
Experts said, with the growing demands from citizens, it is difficult to forbid, not to mention without mechanism for issuing license or management. It is therefore a headache for districts and wards on how to deal with illegal parking lots on project sites. Dr. Thach Minh Quan (University of Transport) said: ”Instead of forbidden, Hanoi should allow to set up temporary parking lots in areas of unexecuted projects in short term. This model then will be assigned for local government for management and responsible for security and order in the parking lot. This solution, in spite of its short term prospect, will benefit citizens as well as urban management”.
Recently, during the meeting with the mission from Hanoi city council on the progress of master planning pubic parking network in the city, representative of Cau Giay People’s Committee has proposed to temporarily giving license for parking lot in unexecuted project site to meet the citizens’ demand. According to the representative, parking lots in the district has only met 15-20% the demand. With the fast growing population, Cau Giay district is facing problem of having sufficient parking lots. Meanwhile, a lot of projects sites are left unused, so if these areas are used for parking lot, this will significantly solve the demand of citizens in parking their vehicles. Chief of the mission from Hanoi city council Nguyen Nguyen Quan said, the mission will submit this proposal to Hanoi City Council and Hanoi People’s Committee for review. However, it is necessary to have specific regulations and mechanism to manage these temporary parking lots, as such to avoid negative consequences in the future.
