VietNamNet Bridge – Newly built high-rise buildings near Tan Son Nhat International airport have increased traffic congestion, said Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper.

Traffic congestion in Truong Son Road, infront of Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Newly built high-rise buildings near Tan Son Nhat International airport have increased traffic congestion. — Photo zing.vn

In recent years, several buildings with thousands of apartments and many offices have appeared in Pho Quang, Hong Ha and Hoang Minh Giam streets in Tan Binh and Phu Nhuan districts.

The buildings have made the areas more crowded, the paper said.

In Pho Quang Street there are five high-rises with about 2,000 apartments occupied by more than 10,000 people, let alone hundreds of offices and several department stores.

A 21-floor building on Hoang Minh Giam Road and 19-storey building on Hong Ha Road will be completed this year, which will increase the population in the area by 2,000, let alone people commuting to the area.

Also, a 20-floor building on Nguyen Van Troi Road has just been put into operation.

Phu Nhuan District People's Committee has raised concerns about traffic congestion in the area, however city authorities said that high-rise building projects were aimed at luring investment and developing the areas.

The infrastructure in the area has been improved with building more roads, which will help ease traffic jams.

According to Nguyen Tan Khoi Nguyen, an official of Phu Nhuan District's urban management department, many old roads will be widened and some new ones will be built. For example, the "bottleneck spot" on Hoang Minh Giam Road will be wiped out by widening the route by up to 30m.

During the period of implementing the high-rise projects on Hong Ha and Pho Quang roads, investors have pledged to build ,12-wide roads, said the official.

A flyover in the Hoang Van Thu–Nguyen Van Troi–Truong Son Intersection has also been planned.

However, according to Tuoi Tre's investigation, the widened roads and new ones are only planned on paper.

The municipal transport department has just studied the projects. None are planned to be carried out this year.

According to architect Ngo Viet Nam Son, the urban managers should give priority to ensuring a clear traffic flow in the area near Tan Son Nhat Airport to bring more profits to the city.

The profit from the high-rises will be less than from the airport, he said.

Authorities said more high-rises would help attract more investors, but traffic congestion on roads to the airport would cause big problems, Son said.

VNS