Fee upon fee!

(Baonghean)It can be affirmed that the policy of collecting, remitting, managing, and using the "Road Maintenance Fund" implemented according to Government Decree 18/2012, with a collection method based on weight for automobiles and engine displacement for motorcycles (the poor are exempt from fees for motorcycles); at the same time, the removal of toll stations for budget revenue, and the reduction of registration tax to 10% for new vehicles and 2% for vehicles transferred ownership for the second time onwards, has been met with public approval.

In Nghe An province, within the first 10 days of implementing the Government Decree, over 1,800 car owners paid road maintenance fees at the provincial vehicle registration agency, totaling more than 3 billion VND. However, the issue of double charging is attracting public attention. One specific example is the Ben Thuy Toll Station collecting fees to recoup investment costs for the Vinh bypass even from cars that do not use the road itself. This is illogical even before the current policy of collecting road maintenance fees was implemented.

According to the Ministry of Finance's guiding circular, immediately after the road maintenance fee collection period, toll stations that contribute to the state budget will cease operations; however, toll stations operating under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model are still allowed to continue operating nationwide. This includes the Ben Thuy toll station collecting tolls on the Vinh bypass in Nghe An province. It is known that seven years ago, the Ministry of Finance issued a decision assigning the collection of tolls on the Vinh bypass to the investor of this road section (General Corporation of Construction of Transport Works 4), effective from December 1, 2005, for 20 years and 2 months to repay the investment capital of approximately 400 billion VND. A few months prior, the Ministry of Transport also issued a decision to transfer the Ben Thuy Bridge toll station (belonging to Road Management and Repair Company 487) to the BOT investor of the Vinh bypass, General Corporation of Construction of Transport Works 4.

According to some, maintaining the status quo at the Ben Thuy Bridge toll station created a loophole allowing the investor to collect tolls from cars that did not use the Vinh bypass, even though toll collection on this bridge had been officially stopped after the investment was recouped in 2005. Thus, the number of cars crossing the Ben Thuy Bridge without using the Vinh bypass (in our opinion, the number of cars not using the bypass could be double the number using the bypass, but the toll fees might only be one-third) remains.

Some people jokingly said they were being "ripped off" by this toll station because they were being charged unfairly. The placement of the Vinh bypass toll station by the Construction Corporation of Transport Works 4 at Ben Thuy Bridge has led to the misunderstanding among people that this station collects tolls for crossing the bridge.

However, when questioned, an official from the BOT branch here replied that the Ben Thuy toll station's collection was approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport! (?). If that's true, then these two ministries need to reconsider such an unreasonable decision. The permission for toll stations under the BOT project in Ben Thuy and Hoang Mai also shows signs of violating Government Decree 18/2012. Although, according to a statement by a leader of the Ministry of Transport on the VTV evening news program on January 12, 2013, the agency will study the matter and the State may use the Road Maintenance Fund to buy back these toll stations.

Viet Long