Parking problems at apartment buildings in Vinh city
(Baonghean.vn) - It was not until the night of January 1, 2021, when a Kia Cerato parked on the street in Vinh City was stolen, that public opinion became worried about the lack of parking lots and public car parking services. In fact, this phenomenon was warned a few years ago when densely populated areas developed strongly, but the planning of public parking lots was not given due attention.
Parking pressure
In fact, the shortagecar parkPublic transport is not a new problem for Vinh city but a common problem of Vietnamese cities, especially large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city.
Due to lack of parking, most of the cars of residents in large apartment complexes have to be parked outside the premises or on the street. During the day, if the weather is cold and rainy during rush hour and there are many cars traveling, the phenomenon oftraffic jamTraffic jams often occur, almost all streets of Vinh City are jammed partly due to vehicles parking and stopping, encroaching on the roadway and sidewalks...
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| Vinh City's car density is among the highest in the country. Photo: Tien Hung |
For example, in the apartment buildings: Bao Son (Nguyen Sy Sach street); Tecco, Dau Khi (Quang Trung street); other apartment buildings in Hong Son, Vinh Tan, Ben Thuy wards... at night, each apartment building has hundreds of cars that have to park in the premises and on the streets.
The reason for this situation is that investors in the process of planning apartment building projects for profit ignore the regulations on reserving land for parking as committed. In addition, the project approval process, the appraisal and licensing agencies of apartment projects are also somewhat lax when considering this condition.
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| Traffic jams occur frequently during rush hour in Vinh city. Photo: Hoang Quoc Ky |
In fact, requiring apartment investors in Nghe An to reserve land or build multi-storey parking lots at the present time is not feasible because reserving 1-2 thousand square meters for parking or investing in basement parking is too large and takes a long time to recover capital.
In big cities in other countries, when applying for approval for large apartment projects or high-rise commercial centers, the licensing authority does not only build 1 basement for parking but 3-5 basements. However, in our country and especially Nghe An, not all investors can meet the above conditions because building a basement means that the investment cost will double compared to above ground and the technical requirements are higher, so not all projects and contractors can do it.
Objectively speaking, from 2012 to 2018, there were too many and too many apartments built in Vinh City, when apartment projects in the city center were easily licensed and infrastructure was not planned and invested appropriately.
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| Many high-rise apartment buildings are built on Mai Hac De Street, Vinh City. Photo by Viet Phuong |
According to preliminary statistics, in just 7 years, nearly 50 apartment complexes (including many buildings) and apartment buildings (1 single house) have been newly built. In total, Vinh City currently has nearly 70 apartment buildings with over 3,200 apartments, but very few apartment projects have enough parking lots for people's needs.
In fact, in order to get their apartment projects licensed, investors took advantage of the time when regulations on granting apartment building permits were still loose and incomplete to put them into a fait accompli situation... Therefore, in Vinh City, there is an apartment building designed with 170-200 apartments, but only enough for 30-50 cars, less than 30% of the households. Currently, in Hung Dung, Hung Phuc or Ben Thuy, there are some apartment buildings with residents living in less than 50% of the apartments, but there have been disputes and lawsuits between investors and customers who are apartment buyers.
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| Bao Son Apartment - a hot spot for parking lots for families buying houses. Photo: NH |
Although this apartment complex has not been established and has not been handed over to the ward for management, the ward Party Committee and authorities cannot sleep well with this building. Since mid-2020, there have been continuous disputes and lawsuits between customers, who are households, and the investor over power and water cuts and hanging of protest banners. At night, people's cars are parked on the sidewalks and the banks of the Bac Canal along Nguyen Sy Sach Street, which are not under the supervision of the ward police, but they still have to patrol regularly and keep an eye on them.
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| Lacking parking space, residents of the Glucy apartment building in Truong Thi Ward have to park on the street or rent houses. Photo by Viet Phuong |
Need a long-term, breakthrough solution
In fact, people living in apartment buildings have solutions to protect their assets. On the one hand, they take advantage of the apartment buildings to park their cars safely, even though they have to pay a monthly fee of 400,000 - 600,000 VND; on the other hand, due to the increasing demand for car parking, many families with large areas near apartment buildings often take advantage of the car parking service. This can be easily seen when visiting apartment buildings such as Tecco Le Loi, Hung Dung, Quang Trung, Ben Thuy, Ha Huy Tap, Hung Binh, etc.
However, due to the increasing speed of purchasing personal vehicles, each family has not only 1 car but also 2-3 cars, so the pressure on parking is increasing. With the number of cars in the whole province reaching nearly 136,000, mainly concentrated in Vinh City, the pressure on urban infrastructure is very large. Up to now, although the city has invested tens of billions of VND to cut sidewalks and open right turns at some intersections, it is just a "drop in the ocean" and traffic jams still occur frequently.
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| Although the city has invested tens of billions of dong to trim sidewalks and open right turns at some intersections, it is just a drop in the ocean and traffic jams still occur frequently. Photo: Archive |
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| The parking lot in front of the Central Park gate in Le Mao ward is planned, overnight parking service in Vinh City. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
A representative of the Vinh City Urban Management Department also said: While waiting for a breakthrough, long-term solution in planning and more popular overnight public vehicle parking services, people need to be more vigilant. If they have to park their vehicles on the street, they must install anti-theft warning devices and always keep their vehicles within sight. On the part of the police in wards and communes, it is necessary to increase patrols and surveillance at night to promptly detect and prevent new crimes, contributing to ensuring peace and property for the people./.
