HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has approveda project worth nearly 400 trillion VND (17.3 billion USD) on improvingaccess to public transport and limiting the use of personal vehiclesover the next decade, according to the People’s Committee’s Office.

Underthe project, public transport is expected to meet 15 percentof residents’ travel demand by 2025, and 25 percent by 2030.

Fiftyto 60 new bus routes would be opened by 2025 and 50-75 by 2030. In thenext 10 years, the number of buses would double compared to the present.

Asof July, the city had 128 bus routes with 2,330 buses, including 91subsidised routes.

Thetransport project focuses on developing the bus network and improving thequality of human resources operating buses. Priority will be given todeveloping large capacity public transport, including planned metroroutes and a bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

Otherpublic transport like river buses, public bicycles and electricmotorbikes will be promoted.

Thecontrol of personal vehicle usage in the city will have a specific roadmapwith consent from residents. After trial runs, cars will be charged afee to enter the city centre, and motorcycle exhaustemissions will be measured. Environmental protection fees will becollected as well.

Fundingfor the project will come from the State budget, private investors and ODA.

TheDepartment of Transport will give advice to the People’s Committeeon assigning tasks and responsibilities to people's committeesat all levels, departments and branches to ensurequality and progress of the project.

Thedepartment will regularly monitor, inspect and evaluate the implementationof the project, as well as report the results to the committee./.