HCM City is studying to apply a Certificate of Entitlement program (COE) in an attempt to limit private car ownership.
HCM City is facing an explosion in the number of vehicles
As of November last year the number of registered vehicles in HCM City had reached 520,000 cars and over 5.3 million motorbikes. Millions of vehicles from other provinces entering the city every day add to the traffic flow. Meanwhile, the city only has 3,700 km of roads.
The city authorities proposed a COE programme in 2010 and officially began researching the project in 2012 as a method to reduce traffic accidents.
COE has been implemented in Singapore. This system will require residents of HCM City to bid for the right to buy a vehicle once every two months, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted. This programme is hoped to give government control over the number of vehicle on the roads while gaining budget for infrastructure.
However, experts showed their disagreement with the programme, saying the cost to own one vehicle would skyrocket. They claimed that if it was applied only to Hanoi and HCM City, the cities' roads would be flooded by vehicles from other provinces.
The experts also said this programme succeeded in Singapore because Singapore is a small country with relatively small population size. However, the most important factor was Singapore’s high per capita income. They said the situation was very different from Vietnam.
Despite the disagreement, HCM City authorities have decided to implement the programme. Evaluations are expected to be completed by the second quarter this year. It will be submitted to the city people's council then to the government for a pilot performance in HCM City.
In an attempt to reduce the traffic density, the city has plans to collect fees from motor vehicles from other provinces.
Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper recently reported that HCM City authorities had banned customised three-wheeled vehicles from the city centre and various roads such as Tran Quoc Toan, Hoang Van Thu or Nguyen Van Troi.
The ban which will go into effect on March 3, also bans those vehicles from entering the traffic flow in rush hours on key routes such as Hanoi Highway, Nguyen Van Linh, 1K Highway.
Unregistered three-wheeled vehicles will be banned from HCM City’s roads
HCM City to focus on infrastructure and public transport
HCM City authorities paid closer attention the infrastructure by set up plans for public transports system such as overhead railways and an express bus and transport system for the disabled.
They hope to complete the plans for developing public transport in 2013 and will synchronise the plans with overhead railway and subway projects.
The authorities have tightened control over traffic laws and management activities to minimise traffic congestion.