Work on four underground parking lots in downtown HCMC will commence this year and next and be up and running in 2019, the HCMC Department of Transport has said.

The department said last week that two of the four projects would get off the ground this year and the remainder in 2016.

Once in place, the underground parking lots would be able to accommodate 3,900 motorcycles and nearly 6,300 cars at a time.

Currently, Underground Space Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (JSC) is completing the design for an underground parking lot at Le Van Tam Park in District 1 and plans to start work on the project this year.

The four-storey facility covering nearly 77,000 square meters is designed for 2,024 motorbikes and 1,260 autos.

At Trong Dong Stage area in District 1, Dong Duong Group Co Ltd will develop a parking lot with seven basements and three floors above the ground for 890 cars and 400 motorcycles.

Meanwhile, Vingroup plans to carry out two underground parking lot projects from 2017 to 2019, with one at Hoa Lu Stadium and the other at Tao Dan Cultural Park.

The department said the underground parking lots would be put into service in the next four years if construction work is complete as planned.

The HCMC Department of Construction said there are about 59 high-rise buildings having one to five basements for parking in a 500-meter radius in the downtown area.

Around 13 of the buildings have three to five parking basements including Kumho Asiana Plaza Saigon, Eden, Saigon Center and Sunwah.

The downtown area is also home to 46 high-rise buildings whose parking facilities have smaller capacity on Hai Ba Trung, Dong Khoi, and Nguyen Hue streets.

The transport department said car parking might be allowed on the roadsides of nearly 43% of the 4,044 kilometers of road in the city.

According to the department, more than half of the 4,869 streets in HCMC are occupied to park motorcycles.

SGT