People support
The Hanoi Department of Construction has completed the third draft of the Project on management, exploitation and use of roads and sidewalks in Hanoi. In the draft, this agency coordinated with localities to conduct surveys, sociological investigations, and assess the current status of management and use of sidewalks on 123 roads and streets proposed by the People's Committees of 16 districts.
Of which, Hoan Kiem district has the largest number of sidewalks qualified for rent with 40 streets studied, Tay Ho district has 16 streets, Hai Ba Trung district has 12 streets... The fee for temporarily using a part of the sidewalk for vehicle parking or business is determined from 20,000 to 40,000 VND/m2/month.
Many people in the capital shared that Hanoi needs to soon implement sidewalk leasing, because this is not only a feasible solution but also opens up many development prospects for the city, bringing in budget revenue and improving the effectiveness of management work in this field.
Ms. Nguyen Dieu Thuy (residing in Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi) said that currently, sidewalks are not strictly managed, leading to the situation of businesses encroaching spontaneously and not complying with regulations. If this leasing activity is put into practice soon, it can effectively utilize this resource.
Mr. Vu Anh Kien (Dong Da district) expressed concern about the rental price. According to Mr. Kien, if it is a small business such as selling iced tea on the sidewalk, the fee of about 40,000 VND/m2 can be a burden for the trader. This means that some types of business services will not be suitable for the proposed sidewalk rental fee.
Or, many households in areas eligible for sidewalk rental will lose their frontage, causing difficulties for their business, travel, and daily activities.
Another important factor when implementing a sidewalk rental policy is the need for strict regulations on the design and arrangement of stalls, ensuring safety and convenience for pedestrians.
According to the criteria in the draft of the Hanoi Department of Construction, the sidewalks allowing business must be at least 3m wide; the sidewalk width must be from 3m or more to accommodate 1.5m pedestrians; arrange technical infrastructure, partly for business and vehicle parking. For the Old Quarter, sidewalks are allowed to be less than 3m wide, and are allowed to operate during the time of organizing the walking space or other times licensed by the District People's Committee.
Other criteria include ensuring parking for customers on-site or within the permitted area; business activities must ensure safety and civility... In particular, mobile businesses must be equipped with sales counters according to the specifications issued by the District People's Committee.
Need to be tightly managed
Assessing the proposed sidewalk rental price, according to Architect Tran Huy Anh (Standing Member of the Hanoi Architects Association), the city needs to have specific regulations on sidewalk rental activities. In particular, it is necessary to carefully survey and evaluate which sidewalk areas can be converted, used for multiple purposes and linked to rental value.
If the sidewalk rental price is too different from the store rental price, pedestrians will lose the sidewalk, and business people will abandon their rented stores to do business on the sidewalk. This will cause difficulties in the management and control of sidewalks in Hanoi.
Meanwhile, Dr. Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem - Vice President of the Vietnam Urban Development Planning Association, former Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture, assessed that sidewalks need to be strictly managed because they are associated with the spatial architecture on both sides, which is a characteristic of each street and each city.
