The ground is narrow, the ground is still open
The center of Ho Chi Minh City is increasingly overloaded, while the land fund for parking lots is limited. Developing underground space is considered a solution to expand the usable area and reduce pressure on the ground.
Ho Chi Minh City has many underground projects such as high-rise basements, commercial centers, hotels, apartments and especially 3 underground stations Ba Son, City Opera House, Ben Thanh of Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien). However, the projects are mainly privately invested, not yet forming a network connecting traffic, parking lots, commerce, services and public spaces.
This pressure is even clearer when Ho Chi Minh City currently manages more than 1.2 million cars and 11.5 million motorbikes, while the existing parking area is only about 2.69ha out of a total of 550ha planned, reaching about 0.5%.
More than 20 years ago, Ho Chi Minh City called for investment in 4 underground parking lots with a capacity of about 6,300 cars and 4,000 motorbikes, but so far no project has become a reality. The main reasons are incomplete planning, high costs and insufficient attractive investment mechanisms.
Resolution 260/2025/QH15 (amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15) creates more basis for Ho Chi Minh City to implement urban development models associated with public transport (TOD) and more flexible PPP forms. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City is aiming for multi-functional underground space complexes.
Ho Chi Minh City before the opportunity to "awaken" underground space
Two underground space complexes in the Ton Duc Thang street area and September 23rd Park are having more grounds to be deployed soon with the participation of two large domestic corporations.
Ton Duc Thang street area will develop underground space associated with traffic, parking lots and service functions. The project is located in the Ben Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi Cultural Park and Bach Dang Park project (started on July 1, 2026), with a total investment of nearly 30,000 billion VND. The project is implemented in the form of public-private partnership (PPP), BT contract (build - transfer), invested by Ben Nha Rong Tourism Service Co., Ltd. (under Sun Group).
September 23rd Park is the location of the underground station of the Ben Thanh - Can Gio Metro line (inaugurated on December 19, 2025) invested by VinSpeed High-Speed Railway Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (under Vingroup) under the BOO (build - own - operate) contract. In July 2026, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approved the policy for VinSpeed to develop a 1/500 Detailed Plan for the September 23rd Park area, combining a commercial, service and underground parking area connected to Ben Thanh station.
According to VinSpeed's proposal being consulted, the underground project under 23/9 Park has an area of more than 82,000m2, expected to have a maximum of 4 basements, with a total floor area of about 317,867m2. Of which, more than 146,940m2 is for parking, more than 26,273m2 for the station space and about 144,653m2 for commercial and service centers.
Notably, the September 23 Park area currently has Ben Thanh underground station, which in the future will become a focal point connecting 5 metro lines including: Metro No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien), Metro Ben Thanh - Tham Luong, Metro Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem, Metro No. 4 (Dong Thanh - Hiep Phuoc) and Ben Thanh - Can Gio line.
From here, the area can form a continuous chain of connections between the metro, parking lots, commercial centers, services and pedestrian spaces. At that time, people will not only go underground to park their cars but can continue their journey in the city through an underground space network.
Ho Chi Minh City needs a master plan for underground space
Dr. Vo Kim Cuong - former Deputy Chief Architect of Ho Chi Minh City - highly appreciates the orientation of developing multi-functional underground spaces, combining parking lots, commerce, services and public transport connections to increase exploitation efficiency.
According to Mr. Cuong, the biggest bottleneck currently is planning. Ho Chi Minh City needs to comprehensively plan underground space, taking the metro as the "backbone", connecting the station with commercial works, residential areas and public spaces. At the same time, the city needs to build a unified database on underground infrastructure to avoid fragmented development, having to dig up and reconnect later.
Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Institute of Economics and Management of Ho Chi Minh City said that connecting the metro station with commerce and services by underground access will help people reduce dependence on personal vehicles, while reducing construction pressure on the ground.
According to Mr. Thang, underground space should be considered a component of urban infrastructure, synchronously planned with transportation, commerce, services and public space. Projects at September 23rd Park and Ton Duc Thang area can be pilot models, paving the way for the formation of an underground space network in the central area.
