The first two multi-story car parks in HCM City are facing losses as drivers prefer the conveniences of illegal parking lots.

An empty parking lot on Nguyen Hue Street

The car park on Che Lan Vien Street, Tan Phu District has five floors and went into operation in 2013. It cost Tien Tien Company VND400bn (USD17.5m) and has capacity to store 1,000 cars and 2,000 motorbikes. 

According to Tien Tien Company, the fire safety, cameras and security system cost them over VND10bn.

However, after two years, only 30% of the car park is regularly filled, bringing VND500m (USD22,000) a month in earnings. 

It is only enough to maintain operation and pay employees' wages. The company has to source money elsewhere to pay bank's interests.

Another 10-storey car park on Vo Van Kiet Street, District 1, is also facing the same problem. 

The car park of Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation has enough room for 1,000 cars and there are vehicle maintenance services on the ground floor. 

However, as of now, only 10% of the car park is filled.   

Despite demand for parking in HCM City, both of the car parks have failed to attract drivers. 

According to the companies, they can't compete with numerous illegal parking lots nearby. 

Tien Tien Company said when their parking building was completed was also when nearly 40 illegal parking lots were set up nearby. 

The parking lots use pavements or vacant construction sites that haven't started yet. The parking fees are also much cheaper as they don't have to invest into fire safety or security systems.

Tran Quang Lam, vice director of the Department of Transport said both multi-story car parks weren't at prime locations so they had the disadvantages as the people were also too lazy to walk to parking lots. 

The authorities will need to carry out various measures to deal with this problem such as imposing strict punishments against illegal parking and having supporting policies to reduce fees at multi-story parking lots.

Lam said, "The streets and pavements are packed with parked vehicles while there are lots of room in the underground parking lots of many high-rise buildings."

The Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation recent asked to withdraw from an underground parking project at Tao Dan Stadium because of possible losses. 

This project was approved in 2010 with an investment of VND1.4trn(USD61m). 

It covers 70,211 square metres and can receive 1,050 cars, 10 buses and 2,500 motorbikes. 

The Indochina Group also wants to withdraw from a parking lot project at Hoa Lu Stadium that has an investment of VND1.6trn because of the same reason.

Meanwhile, the underground parking project at Le Van Tam Park is facing problems with fire safety and other procedures. 

The Investment and Development for Underground Space Corporation (IUS) said the investment had increased from USD90m to USD200m. 

IUS said they would withdraw from the project if HCM City authorities didn't deal with the problems soon.

The IUS also said the chance to recover the capital was low as the fees are set by the local authorities.

HCM City authorities are considering halting the investment at Lam Son Square, Bac Tung Diep Park, September 23rd Park and Nguyen Hue Streets as they no longer fit current urban planning.

Dtinews/Tien Phong