There have been many times when Le Van Thanh Tung, a driver working forBayer Vietnam Company, had to drive around for two or three kilometresto find parking space in downtown HCM City.

After finding space, he said, "I had to sit under the baking sun to keepan eye on the car while waiting for the boss to finish the meeting.Honestly, finding parking space is the biggest worry for drivers."

The city centre does not have a single parking lot.

The People's Committee announced last November it wouldallow parking on 73 streets for a fee, including 32 streets in District1.

Along downtown streets like Pham Ngu Lao, NguyenThi Minh Khai, Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Hue, Le Lai, and Ham Nghi, long linesof parked cars can be seen at most times.

Even onnarrow streets like Cao Ba Quat, Bui Thi Xuan, Thi Sach, Suong NguyetAnh, Tran Cao Van, and Nguyen Van Thu, cars parked along the curbs onboth sides take up nearly half the road.

Thesestreets have already run out of space since shops and restaurant parktheir cars all day long here because of the cheap parking fee. Even taxidrivers park here while waiting for fares.

Ha Le Anof the Urban Transport Management Division No 1 admitted the parkingfees are too low: 5,000 VND –10,000 VND for cars with up to 16 seats.

As a result, there is no parking space left forshoppers and residents.

HCM City hasaround 427,000 private cars, and 80 more are registered daily.

Assuming an automobile requires 12 square metres for parking,the city needs to have at least 5.12 million square metres (more than500ha) for parking.

The city has around 11,000 taxisbut their operators only have a cumulative 2.5ha of parking space,according to the Department of Transport. The others park in petrolstations or on roads.

Many private parking lots havesprung up to take advantage of the huge demand for parking space. NgocLam, a driver, said he knows of some parking lots in buildings inDistrict 1.

One of them is in Sai Gon Centre at thecorner of Pasteur and Le Loi Streets which collects a rather stiff feebased on time.

But despite this, few outsiders' carscan be parked there because vehicles belonging to people working in thebuilding take up almost the entire space, a building security guardsaid. Havana building on Ham Nghi street charges even more thanSai Gon Centre – 20,000 VND for an hour for regular cars.

Some enterprising people even hire space to set up impromptu parkinglots.

Tran Thi Kim Hoang, director of Thien Dai Loiprivate company, has rented 3,000 square metres at 86 Nguyen Thi MinhKhai street , District 1, and created a car park.

She charges 1.2 million VND a month for each car of up to seven seats./.