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Condo parking lot ban proposed for central Bangkok

Friday, 04 April 2008

source: Bangkok Post 3 Apr 2008 The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is proposing to ban parking lots in condominiums along the routes of the electric train and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems to encourage the property residents to use mass transit facilities. The request will soon be proposed to the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning to consider and enforce, said deputy Bangkok governor Panich Vikitsreth. The proposed ban is expected to encourage condo residents in central Bangkok to make more use of mass transit systems and therefore help reduce traffic along electric train and BRT routes, said Mr Panich who supervises a project to relieve traffic congestion in Bangkok. The ban will also bring down the prices of condo units in central Bangkok as developers would not have to invest in building parking lots, he said. BMA will also ask office buildings that still need parking space for visitors to reduce the size of their parking lots. Atip Bijanonda, deputy managing director of Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed developer Supalai Plc said the parking lot ban would benefit the real estate industry. Echoing Mr Panich, he said residents of condos without parking lots would be forced to use existing mass transit system, resulting in lighter traffic in their neighbourhoods. Also, developers would have more saleable space which would lead to declines in costs and in unit prices, he said. However, the extent of the price drops would depend on the location. Price declines on Sukhumvit would be lower than on Ratchadapisek. With the absence of parking lots in condo buildings, developers would get their environmental impact assessment approvals more easily too, said Mr Atip. The no-parking lot policy has been applied in other countries as well such as Japan and Hong Kong, he added. He suggested the requirement should be extended to cover condo projects developed in a radius of one kilometre from the stations, not just 500 metres. Beside the parking lot ban, to be fair in terms of public utilities taxation, Mr Panich will propose that the BMA collect higher public utility taxes from residents living in central city areas where public utilities are better developed, particularly neighbourhoods along the electric train and BRT routes where business profitability is higher than in suburban areas.

 

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