Da Nang plans public underground car park

Da Nang (VNA) - Downtown Da Nang will host the city’s first public underground car park in 2018.

City authorities said the parking garage, a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) project to be carried out over two years (2016-2018), will be built on a 4,000sq.m site at a cost of 195 billion VND (8.7 million USD).

It will have 309 parking spaces for cars and over 3,000 for motorbikes at the junction of Ong Ich Khiem-Dong Da and Tran Cao Van streets.

The city will also upgrade these streets to facilitate day and night entry for cars.

The project, which includes three underground floors and a ground floor, will also have a green park, a rest area and several entertainment options for pedestrians.

In 2015, the city opened its first underground car park at the Administrative Centre on Tran Phu street. The parking garage, which can accommodate 179 cars and 1,500 motorbikes, cost 150 billion VND (6.7 million USD) to build.

Almost all big hotels in the city have their own underground parking garages, according to the city’s Construction Department.

A report prepared by the city’s traffic police says Da Nang, which has a population of 900,000, has 69,000 cars, 800,000 motorbikes and over 5,000 battery-powered bikes, excluding cars and personal vehicles from localities that pass in and out everyday.

Da Nang is also piloting an odd and even day car parking plan on some streets in the city to ease congestion. It also plans several underground projects in the coming years, including two road tunnels at busy roundabouts, and a tunnel under the Han River.

Last year, the city put into operation a three-level rail and road flyover at the Hue Junction.

In 2013, the World Bank agreed to provide 202 million USD for a 272 million USD sustainable development project to help build a Bus Rapid Transit network, new roads and revamp the existing drainage system.-VNA