Ha Noi authorities have defined a series of norms to follow for the re-arrangement of the public parking system to ensure it is suitable with the city's socio-economic development and facilitates traffic order.
Authorities said they would prioritise parking lots which serve important political and social organ-isations and those that use innovative ideas, such as underground parking or multi-storey structures.

Parking will be banned along main roads, belt roads, cross-roads and roads which are under 6.5m in width.

Licences will be offered to parking lots located on uncrowded roads, unused roads and roads in the city centre where there is a high demand for parking.

The municipal People's Committee agreed with the Ha Noi Police's proposal to refuse licences for parking areas on toll roads from Noi Bai Airport to the city centre. They include the route Noi Bai-Pham Van Dong-Pham Hung-Nguyen Chi Thanh-Kim Ma-Nguyen Thai Hoc-Hai Ba Trung and the route Noi Bai-Au Co-Yen Phu-Thanh Nien Road.

A new public parking plan will be developed by the municipal Department of Transport and Police for submission to city authorities by the end of this month.

The plan is scheduled to enter into effect on February 1 next year in Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Hai Ba Trung and Tay Ho districts.

Based on the new norms, more than 240 existing automobile lots in the five districts will not be licensed, said Tran Dang Hai, deputy chief inspector of the Ha Noi Department of Transport.

Few existing parking areas meet the norms which meant that the number of illegal parking areas would increase and inspectors would be vigilant about checking and managing them, said Hai

"More inspectors will be needed after the plan is put into effect," he said.

Residents have expressed worry about the difficulty they expect to have finding legal parking spots.

Nguyen Minh Tam, who frequently drivers her four-seat car in Hoan Kiem District, said it could already take an hour to find a parking place in the district.

"Now with fewer legal parking spaces, I may have to spend half of the day to park my car," she complained.

Tam said she expected that the city would develop a plan for underground parking to save space and make it easier for drivers to park their cars.

VNS