HCM City authorities approved the construction of an underground parking lot in the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

The 1-ha project will be capable of housing around 3,000 motorbikes and 100 cars. The parking lot with the entrance to be located on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street.  

Construction for the underground parking lot construction will have to minimise loud noise to avoid disturbing animals in the nearby zoo.

The city authorities have also agreed on building two parking lots for zoo visitors.

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is home to 921 animals of 120 different species, including many rare animals.

Authorities in HCM City made plans to build underground parking lots over a decade ago due to various reasons, the plans remained on paper even as traffic jams increased and the number of registered vehicles soared.

HCM City now has about 10 million transport vehicles, including 700,000 automobiles. Each day, more than 100 new cars and 900 motorbikes are registered.

Although the city has allowed parts of 110 streets to be used for motorbike parking, supply has not met demand. And while more car parks exist on a number of streets in District 1, there is still a shortage of parking spaces.

Many residents say that areas designated for parked cars have obstructed shops.

Dtinews