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| Despite chronic congestion in the district, the local authorities have decided to permit street parking |
The streets include Le Duan, Hoan Kiem Lake, Bao Khanh, Trieu Quoc Dat and Lo Su and are among more than 260 along which parking has been banned since February.
Speaking to Viet Nam News yesterday, Tran Dang Hai, department deputy inspector, said Hoan Kiem District was one of main inner city areas with high traffic flow.
Demand for parking has been high with authorities having failed to find alternative solutions to the problem.
"We hope the re-opening would afford local residents more comfort in travelling," he said.
However, Hai added the municipal People's Committee still had to give the final nod.
The department will continue co-operating with other districts and re-open additional parking lots if demand is not satisfied.
Such re-openings have received mixed views from residents.
Trieu Anh Quan, who often takes his wife to the National Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology on Trieu Quoc Dat Street to have a pregnancy check-up, expressed his happiness over the decision.
"Whenever going to the hospital, it takes me at least 15 minutes to park my motorbike," he said.
However, Nguyen Thi Nhan, a resident on Le Duan Street, said parking lots along the pavement would make it difficult for her son to go to school.
The department has proposed to let vehicles park along Gam Cau Street, which carries little traffic.
It will also add three streets, including Hang Ngang, Hang Dao and Dong Xuan, to the list of banned parking lots.
The Hoan Kiem People's Committee proposed to re-open six parking lots along Ba Trieu Street, however, the idea received little support from the municipal Department of Transport.
On February 15 this year, city authorities banned hundreds of parking lots along 262 streets in nine inner city districts in order to reduce traffic jams and improve safety.
By the end of last month, the city raised the number of banned streets to 267.