Traffic experts have cast doubt on a monorail development proposal for reducing traffic jams around Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC, saying this is not a feasible solution.

Traffic is heavy in front of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. Traffic experts have cast doubt on a monorail development proposal for reducing traffic jams around Tan Son Nhat International Airport 

Recently, the Institute of Transport Science and Technology proposed building two monorail lines to the airport, with one running from Gia Dinh Park in Go Vap District and the other from Hoang Van Thu Park in Tan Binh District with a total length of 6.3 kilometers.

The monorail lines are expected to serve 121,500 passengers a day with each trip lasting four minutes. The project would require an estimated VND4.4 trillion (US$193.8 million) to VND7 trillion (US$35 million) to build each kilometer for a single-track line and US$50 million for each kilometer for a double-track line.

Ha Ngoc Truong, vice chairman of the HCMC Association of Bridges, Roads and Ports, said monorails might prove to be an inconvenience as passengers would have to come to the stations at Hoang Van Thu and Gia Dinh parks to use the service.

In addition, 95% of people in the city travel by motorcycle, so the traffic congestion issue cannot be solved as it would move from one spot to another. If the two transfer stations are located at Hoang Van Thu and Gia Dinh parks, the roads around these areas would be severely congested, Truong added.

Nguyen Bach Phuc, chairman of the HCMC Association of Consultants in Science Technology and Management (HASCON), said the monorail proposal was not new and might face the same fate of a defunct cable car system connecting Gia Dinh Park and the airport and that of an elevated road between Hoang Van Thu Park and the airport.

The transport authority attributed traffic congestion on Truong Son Street to a huge number of people traveling to and from the airport. However, data of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam showed that there are 42 aircraft movements an hour at the airport, which means around 18,900 people, including those coming to the airport to see off or pick up passengers, go to and from the airport an hour. Meanwhile, Truong Son Street can accommodate 170,000 road users an hour.

Traffic congestion on Truong Son Street is caused by huge numbers of vehicles moving from the northeast to the center and the west of the city through the street, Phuc said.

Phuc proposed opening more entrances to the airport on Truong Chinh, Pham Van Bach, Tan Son and Quang Trung streets as the airport now has only one gate on Truong Son Street.

Pham Xuan Mai, a traffic expert, suggested opening a new gate on Hoang Hoa Tham Street and building more elevated roads to the airport.

SGT