Vietnam's HCM City transport system needs urgent revamp HANOI - Ho Chi Minh City is recognised as the only major Asian city which has poor public transport services for its five million strong population, according to experts. Ho Chi Minh City's public transport system, still without a subway or a elevated train system, serves 100,000 passengers a day against 2.5 million passengers in Bangkok, seven million in Singapore and 10 million in Hong Kong. Reports say the underdeveloped public transport system will help to increase the volume of private transport including cars and motorcycles, worsening the city's traffic problems. It is estimated that in the next few years the 1.4 million motorcycles being used by city residents will rise to three million and the number of private cars to more than 100,000, causing traffic congestion and environmental problems. According to a report by France's CRATP organisation, the only way to develop public transport is to launch high-quality bus services and take steps to discourage private transport use. This requires more investment from the State in public transport facilities, especially the subway and elevated train systems. Britain's MVA organisation said while it was easy to develop road networks, it took a joint effort between relevant authorities and bus firms to improve public transport and limit private vehicle use. The percentage of the city's population using public transport has fallen from five per cent in 1995 to four per cent recently as experts continue to warn of the threat of worsening traffic jams in the years ahead. In 1998, Ho Chi Minh City Service for Transport and Pubic Works (HSTPW) proposed a project to replace 2,000 ageing three-wheeler Lambretta vehicles in 1999, and another 1,000 in 2000, with 12-seater mini-buses. The foreign manufacturer of the minibuses and the project's investors had agreed on a purchase price. The more than 1,000 owner-drivers of the three-wheelers had also agreed with investors to buy the mini-buses on a three-year instalment plan. But the project has not been approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee because the HSTPW had yet to draft a master plan for the development of the city's public transport networks for 2000-20, according to Vo Hoang Tach, deputy director of HSTPW. With the import tax exemption alone, the minibus project will not be feasible because the low-income drivers could not afford to pay luxury tax, which amounts to 60 per cent of the value of a bus. Therefore, to make the project a success, the government should give priority to the minibus project through the exemption of import tax, luxury tax and value-added-tax. In a bid to solve traffic problems in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the government has issued policies on developing public transport networks. The government gave import tax and luxury tax exemptions to bus development projects in 1996 and 1997. In 1997, the government issued instructions on the development of public transport services in big cities, urging municipal authorities to pave the way for public transport services by encouraging residents to use buses instead of bicycles, motorcycles and cyclos. In the past three years, the government's policies on public transport development resulted in tax exemptions for 39 minibuses operated by the State-owned Saigon Bus Company. Meanwhile, six bus co-operatives and 27 three-wheeler co-operatives, which operate 95 per cent of the vehicles used as a means of public transport in Ho Chi Minh City, have not enjoyed any such benefits from the government. Consequently, most of these vehicles, many of which are more than 30 years old, are still in use and only 400 of the 3,000 dilapidated three-wheelers have been replaced by minibuses. With sub-standard means of transport, passenger transport co-operatives, which have not been subsidised by the government, continue to provide poor services. HSTPW has yet to map out a master plan for public transport development. It has also ignored the development of new bus routes to link downtown areas with new residential areas. This has led to a growing number of people in suburban districts using private means of transport instead of public services. HSTPW has also proposed plans to build and expand road networks which would cost up to two trillion dong (US$142.86 million). Meanwhile it earmarked only a limited amount of money for the development of public buses. This imbalance in investment on road and public transport services development was the major cause of traffic problems and led to the criticism of transport authorities. Vietnam News Agency - June 14, 2000.