Cars parked all over the central street
On May 12, on many central streets such as Alexandre de Rhodes, Han Thuyen, Nguyen Van Chiem or Pham Ngoc Thach (Saigon ward), the situation of cars stopping and parking in violation of regulations was common.
Despite the no-parking sign, many cars still line up to occupy the road. Many drivers turn on warning lights to "circumvent" parking regulations.
To date, after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City is managing more than 12.8 million vehicles, including nearly 1.2 million cars, not including the number of vehicles passing by from other localities. In April 2026 alone, the city had nearly 12,600 newly registered cars.
Meanwhile, the existing wharf system only meets about 2.69 hectares out of a total of 550 hectares of planned land for static traffic, equivalent to only about 0.5% of the actual demand.
The lack of parking spaces makes many vehicles have to stop and park rampant on the road or drive around looking for parking spaces, contributing to increasingly serious traffic congestion.
At a meeting with voters in Ho Chi Minh City on May 11, Mr. Tran Luu Quang - Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, said that the story of parking cars on the road is a difficult problem, not only in Ho Chi Minh City but also in many countries around the world.
According to him, parking on the road more or less affects traffic, but in the current conditions, there are issues that must be accepted. He emphasized that parking cannot be banned because it is difficult to manage, because if it is banned, it is necessary to calculate replacement parking spaces for people.
Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary said that the city's resources are still limited while the investment demand is very large, so there needs to be a short-term and long-term roadmap to gradually remove obstacles. He also noted that if parking is too convenient, the demand for buying cars may increase, causing increasing traffic pressure.
According to Mr. Tran Luu Quang, in the upcoming plan, Ho Chi Minh City will calculate synchronously the areas allowed to park, and at the same time study parking plans for even and odd days suitable for each area.
Underground and high-rise parking lots will be built in the center
More than a decade ago, Ho Chi Minh City planned 4 large underground parking lots in the central area including Le Van Tam Park, Tao Dan Park, Trong Dong Stage and Hoa Lu Stadium with a total capacity of about 6,300 cars and 4,000 motorbikes. However, to date, these projects have not been implemented.
In addition, the option of building a multi-story prefabricated parking lot has been proposed by many businesses since 2017, after some pilot projects showed positive results such as the parking lot at 71 Che Lan Vien, the parking lot on Co Giang street or the parking lot at Tan Son Nhat airport.
However, at that time, the plan to build more high-rise parking lots in the center was not approved by the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City due to concerns about increasing congestion and affecting public space.
On May 12, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that it is coordinating with relevant agencies to review the plan to build underground parking lots in some large parks such as Ly Thai To Park, September 23 Park and Le Van Tam Park.
In addition, a business is also researching the Ben Thanh underground complex project with a scale of about 12.5 hectares, including an underground parking lot, a commercial - service area and a central metro station directly connected to Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien).
Faced with the increasing pressure of parking lot shortages, Ho Chi Minh City also directed to prioritize the development of multi-story integrated parking lots using smart technology in the central area.
According to the Department of Construction, there are 4 locations where semi-automatic high-rise parking lots can be built, including a part of Le Lai street, the area in front of Le Van Tam Park, a part of Cho Lon Bus Station and the Hai Thuong Lan Ong street area.
The total area of land plots is expected to be more than 1,500 m2, which can accommodate about 350 cars with fewer than 9 seats and 200 motorbikes.
