Electric tourist cars to be suspended in central Vietnam beach town

At a Wednesday meeting with businesses that offer electric tourist car services, Doan Tien Dung, chairman of Cua Lo, said authorities want electric tourist cars to be properly registered before they can operate to maintain traffic safety.

Several businesses want authorities to extend the deadline for them to fulfill registration requirements, repair vehicles or buy new ones.

Tran Ngoc Duong, a local in Cua Lo, said he had bought two old electric tourist cars from 2014 to 2019, costing him over VND200 million ($8,515). But one of them did not have paper documentations, while the other had parts that did not meet certain standards, meaning it could not be registered.

“If many tourists come in a year, our family would make around VND60 million, costs not included. If the cars cannot operate in the future, it would be tough for us,” Duong said.

Electric tourist cars have been in Cua Lo since 2011, when the government approves a trial to use them to serve tourists. The trial period lasted until 2014, with 110 cars in operation. Afterwards, the number of cars increased to 447 as people began to buy them to serve tourists. In 2016, the Nghe An People’s Committee handed the management of the cars to authorities of Cua Lo. By 2022, the number of cars increased to 558, authorities said.

While the cars did serve to transport tourists around, many of them are degraded, lack proper documentations, and some are parked in places they are not supposed to be, officials said.

In December last year, the Cua Lo People’s Committee devised plans to manage the operation of electric tourist cars.

Hoang Minh Tho, deputy head of the Cua Lo Town Urban Management Department, said 171 cars are eligible to be registered by February this year. Seven cars were randomly selected to be registered, but none of them passed required standards due to reasons like degraded parts.

Cua Lo Town, spanning over 29 km2, is a popular beach town, with a beach spanning around 4 km, attracting 13,000-15,000 people every day during the summer.