First underground car park project to get going after Tet

Work will start on an underground car parking project at Le Van Tam Park in HCMC’s District 1 soon after the Lunar New Year, or Tet, said the owner Investment Development for Underground Space Development Inc.

The company, shortly known as IUS, reaffirmed its commitment to develop the US$103-million underground car park at a press briefing here on Monday convened to announce the launching of the Venture Capital & Equity Investment Holding Inc. (VC Invest).

Le Tuan, chairman of IUS, told reporters that his company had already prepared the required investment capital for the project. Besides its own capital of US$24 million, the investor had secured loans from a local bank and a foreign financial institution to carry out the project, he added.

IUS is completing final procedures to lease land and will start construction after Tet, which is due on February 14. Construction will be completed within 30 months, he said.

The underground car park will have two separate main sections.

One section will include five basements with a total floor area of 72,300 square meters for use as parking space for over 2,000 motorbikes, 1,250 cars and 28 buses and trucks. The other section will include three basements with total area of 30,900 square meters for commercial activities and public services, he said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment in August issued an investment certificate for IUS to develop this underground car park. In October, the HCMC authorities and IUS signed a 50-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to develop the project.

Tuan told the Daily that IUS had plans to develop another underground car park project in the city and the investment capital of the new project would be some US$70 million. But he declined to give more details about the new project.

According to the city’s Transport Department, the city is considering three other projects to build downtown underground car parks.

One will be at Tao Dan Park in District 1, expected to be developed by Urban and Industrial Zones Development Company or IDICO with an estimated cost of some VND1.2 trillion, or some US$65 million. The city government has already approved IDICO’s proposal to carry out the project.

Another project, which is under consideration, is at Hoa Lu Stadium in District 1 and is expected to be deployed by Indochina Company Limited at a cost of some VND950 billion, while the last one is under construction by Vincom Company at Chi Lang Park at the corner of Dong Khoi and Ly Tu Trong streets.

Besides these underground car park projects, the city government is creating more favorable conditions for investors to build more underground car parks to help solve intense traffic jams.

The city has some 370,000 cars and 3.7 million motorbikes. The number of registered vehicles in the city increases by 12% each year with about 120 new cars and 1,200 new motorbikes every day while parking space in the city, especially in downtown districts, is insufficient.

The Saigon Times Daily

Tags: Vietnam Infrastructure, Vietnam underground car park