Hanoi needs more underground parking places. — Photo laodong.vn The capital city continues to grow, and new solutions are needed to manage thisexpansion. One idea being considered is further utilising underground spaces.
According to figures from the city’s traffic police, there are about 7.6million vehicles registered in Hanoi, excluding 1.2 million vehicles from othercities and provinces that regularly travel to the city.
The growth rate of spaces for vehicles has not kept pace with this increase invehicles, leading to an urban infrastructure overload, traffic congestion andair pollution.
One solution is to build an underground traffic system or even entireunderground urban areas.
Since 1996, a number of commercial centres and hotels in Hanoi have built twoto four levels of basements.
The city has also built a number of underground intersections such as undergroundtunnels of Kim Lien, Thanh Xuan and Trung Hoa, as well as underground technicalinfrastructure systems in drainage, electricity and water supply lines.
By the end of 2020, a private housing project in Ba Dinh district on an area ofmore than 300sq.m will include up to four basements.
Vice President of the Vietnam Urban Development and Planning Associationarchitect Dr Dao Ngoc Nghiem told Kinh Te & Do Thi (Economics and UrbanAffairs) newspaper that it is time that underground space became an importantconsideration in urban development strategy.
Dr Pham Hung Cuong, former head of Architecture and Planning at the HanoiUniversity of Construction, said: "The development of underground spaceincludes two aspects of public space and public transport system. If done well,it will solve a lot of urban problems.
"However, Hanoi is only in the early stages of developing these twoaspects. If there was no planning soon there will be many difficulties. Thefirst problem will be the basements of the high-rise buildings that had beenbuilt,” Cuong said.
“By that time, the underground traffic routes will have to go around, whichwill be costly and controversial. This is the case regarding the C9 undergroundstation near Hoan Kiem Lake," he said.
Therefore, Hanoi needs to focus on underground planning sooner rather thanlater, to develop a plan that aligns with the whole city.
The planning of underground space is only mentioned, but not expanded upon,under current regulations, such as the Plan of Hanoi construction up to 2030,with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1259/QDTTg, and the Hanoi Transport Planning to 2030 and a vision to 2050 approved bythe Prime Minister in 2016.
In addition, there are no recommendations and research results for land useplans for building underground spaces, according to the director of the HanoiPlanning and Architecture Department, Nguyen Truc Anh.
Adjustments in how construction in Hanoi is planned are needed, with proposalson specific locations, areas, and scope of the city’s main underground spaces,as well as planning how to maximise land and urban space, he said.
The Hanoi Construction Planning Institute has just completed an undergroundspace project for the city and submitted it to the municipal People's Committeefor approval in the near future.
According to the plan, underground road traffic routes are mainly arranged atintersections, squares, railway and metro stations.
Notably, 79 underground public parking lots will be built in nine inner-citydistricts. Total construction will cover an area of 107 hectares.
The parking areas will be from three to five level basements, in combinationwith commercial and service centres.
Underground stations for the urban railway network will be the nucleus offuture underground public spaces around a radius of 500m.
There will be 65 underground public spaces with a total area of 2,171hectares./.
VNA
