New high-rise buildings on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in HCM City’s Binh Thanh District.
(Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City will not grantlicences to high-rise construction projects on roads and in areas where plannedinfrastructure projects have not been completed in an effort to relievecongestions.
Apartment buildings have been built in many areas where roads havenot been graded and enlarged.
Five apartment buildings on a 1km stretch of Trinh Dinh ThaoStreet between Tan Hoa Canal four-way cross-roads and Luy Ban Bich four-waycross-roads have exerted pressure on infrastructure in Hoa Thanh ward in Tan Phudistrict.
A representative of the city’s Department of Construction said inmany areas building projects had surpassed the capacity of infrastructure andsocial development.
He said that new apartment building projects in residential areasbuilt decades ago had affected poorly developed transport facilities and watersupply networks, he said.
According to a source from the city’s Department ofTransportation, authorities have not sought opinions from the department on theplanning of apartment buildings.
As a result, new high-rise apartment buildings on roads which haveyet to be upgraded and enlarged have exerted rising traffic pressure on manydensely populated areas.
Tran Quang Lam, deputy director of the HCM City Department ofTransportation, said that the department has asked investors of theseapartment building projects to submit reports on transport impact and plans forenlarging roads to reduce traffic congestion.
Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoa, ex-chief of HCM City Institute forDevelopment, said that experts had also asked city authorities to delaylicensing high-rise building projects located on main road axis in the downtownarea as infrastructure is overloaded.
However, Hoa said that licences had been granted to new high-risebuilding projects under a plan of 20 years later when seven metro routes andunderground parking lots would be built.
Dr Nguyen Van Hiep, ex-deputy director of the city’s ConstructionDepartment, said the laws on assessment of environmental impact should bechanged.
The Government should hire consultants to make an environmentalimpact report on these projects, and agencies will rely on these reports whendeciding whether a high-rise building project should be licensed, he said.-VNA
VNA
