The HCM City People’s Committee assigned the project to the city's transport department.

The department recently sent a dispatch to district authorities and Thu Duc City to check current road transport. This will serve as the basis to rent sidewalk space for business purposes.

“The management of the use of roadbeds and sidewalks will be considered thoroughly. In addition to determining the routes and areas which can or cannot be leased, and determining fees for different areas, it will be necessary to have policies on fee exemption and fee reduction to minimize the impact on people and traffic,” a representative of the transport department said.

After finishing the draft plan, the department will collect opinions from relevant units, and submit the plan to municipal authorities.

In 2008, HCM City People’s Committee released Decision 74/2008 on managing and using roadbeds and sidewalks in the city. This was considered a legal framework which clearly stipulated which roadbeds and sidewalks could be used for developing parking lots, for renting for business purposes, and who had the competence to lease the spaces.  

The decision showed that the rental would be applied to the routes which have sidewalks with over 3 meters wide, and the area for rent for non-traffic purposes was 1.5 meters at maximum.

As for the sidewalks with the width of lower than 3 meters, the rental for non-traffic purposes would also be considered in some specific cases, provided that this won’t affect circulation.

In 2017, the Transport Department and the Department of Justice advised the HCM City People’s Committee to amend Decision 74/2008.

At that moment, the department argued that the fee for using sidewalks at VND12,000 per sq m a month was too low. 

The department suggested new fees for temporarily using sidewalks for parking lots, business and night market development. The highest fee, VND100,000 per sq m, was suggested for District 1. The lower fees, between VND25,000 and VND80,000 per sq m, was suggested for Districts 3, 5, 10, Phu Nhuan, 11, Binh Thanh and 6.

The lowest rental, VND20,000 per sq m was designed for Thu Duc City, districts 7, 8, 12, Go Vap, Binh Tan and suburbs.

However, the plan on leasing sidewalks in HCM City was not implemented. Sidewalks have been appropriated spontaneously by petty merchants and used as restaurants and retail premises.

Tuan Kiet