Allowing commercial activities to "nurture" parking lots
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council a draft resolution on the management, exploitation and use of underground space in the area.
According to the draft, land users are allowed to exploit underground space within the boundary of the land plot to a depth of 15m without having to pay the underground space usage fee.
For the construction part more than 15m deep, the investor must fulfill financial obligations. This amount is determined based on the floor area, annual land lease unit price, depth, exemption and reduction policy and term of use.
The space area from over 15m to 30m applies a collection coefficient of 0.3; from over 30m to 50m applies a coefficient of 0.15; the depth area over 50m has a coefficient of 0. These coefficients are expected to be reviewed by Ho Chi Minh City every 3 years or when there are major fluctuations, the adjustment is under the authority of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council.
Notably, the draft allows independent underground parking lot projects to arrange additional commercial and service areas to generate revenue and support capital recovery. In the central area and urban development areas according to the TOD model, the commercial and service area is arranged at a maximum of 45% of the total floor area; the remaining areas at a maximum of 40%.
According to Ho Chi Minh City, this mechanism aims to improve financial efficiency, increase capital recovery capacity and create more motivation for businesses to participate in investing in underground parking lots - a field that has long faced difficulties due to the investment efficiency problem.
The situation of lack of parking spaces still occurs on many roads in the central area of Ho Chi Minh City. Many cars have to find temporary parking spaces on the road, even parking in violation of regulations even though they may be fined.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (45 years old, Nhieu Loc ward) - said that he hopes that if the draft is approved, it will solve the serious parking lot shortage situation in Ho Chi Minh City. He himself has had to temporarily park on the road in the central area a number of times even though he knows it is not in accordance with regulations.
Having an underground parking lot in a convenient location, at a reasonable price, people are willing to park their cars. The important thing is to have enough space and convenient connection with roads, works, and the central area" - Mr. Hung said.
Need to solve the profit-loss problem
From the business side, Mr. Le Nhu Thach - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Federation, Chairman of Bcons Group - assessed that Ho Chi Minh City's policies are a suitable direction to encourage businesses to participate in underground space development.
Mr. Thach said that Bcons is proposing to invest in renovating and building Le Van Tam park into an underground parking complex combined with a commercial center and community living space.
According to him, allowing underground works to develop in a multi-functional direction will help businesses have more revenue to improve investment efficiency. Underground space can combine parking lots with commerce, services, entertainment, and connect with the transportation system, metro stations and ground space.
The policy of exempting and reducing financial obligations and allowing commercial and service exploitation will create conditions for businesses to boldly invest in this field. "When building underground space under the park, it should be assigned to investors to manage it immediately, both ensuring strictness and helping the park have more vitality" - Mr. Thach proposed.
Previously, the central area of Ho Chi Minh City was planned with 4 underground parking lots with a capacity of about 6,300 cars and 4,000 motorbikes, but so far no project has been implemented.
Dr. Vo Kim Cuong - former Deputy Chief Architect of Ho Chi Minh City - said that the major bottleneck of underground parking lot projects in the past was not only in technology but also in investment mechanisms and capital recovery capacity.
According to him, although the State has policies, locations and land funds, businesses still find it difficult to boldly invest if the financial problem is not feasible. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City's proposal to exempt fees for using underground space at a certain depth, reduce financial obligations for the deeper construction part and allow the combination of commerce and services is a direction that can improve project efficiency.
Allowing the exploitation of additional underground commercial and service functions will create revenue to compensate for investment costs and parking lot operations. This is an important factor in shifting underground space projects from a simple infrastructure investment problem to a model capable of generating cash flow and attracting private capital," Mr. Cuong said.
Dr. Vo Kim Cuong said that the important problem is to harmonize the interests between the State, businesses and users. When the mechanism is clear enough, financial efficiency is improved and exploitation rights are established transparently, businesses will have more basis for calculating and deciding on investment.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has assigned VinSpeed High-Speed Railway Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (under Vingroup Group) to develop a 1/500 detailed plan for the 23/9 Park area, combining commercial, service and underground parking lot connected to Ben Thanh station. According to the proposal, the underground project under 23/9 Park has an area of more than 82,000m2, a maximum of 4 basements, and a total floor area of about 317,867m2.
In addition, in the Bach Dang wharf area (Saigon ward), a part of Ton Duc Thang street will also be undergrounded, with a parking lot and a commercial center located below.
