North-South Expressway tolls could be up to VND3,400/km?

It is expected that the North-South Expressway toll will be 1,500 VND/km when it is put into operation, then it will increase by 200-300 VND every 2-3 years, with the highest fee being 3,400 VND/km.

On behalf of the Government, presenting the Pre-Feasibility Study Report on the Investment Project to build a number of expressway sections on the Eastern North-South route in the 2017-2020 period, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The emphasized that the investment in building the Eastern North-South expressway is necessary and cannot be delayed.

During the discussion session at the group on the afternoon of November 8 about the North-South expressway project, Minister Nguyen Van The expressed his support for the Government's policy on building an expressway connecting important political and economic centers of the country to create a socio-economic breakthrough.

Dividing the "curtain" cannot create a breakthrough

According to Mr. The, any locality that develops industry, trade, and services will become a developed locality. Provinces that focus on agriculture will be poorer. However, being poorer does not mean there is a way out.

Minister The stated that in the context of budget difficulties, if the "pie" is divided among 63 provinces and cities, it will be difficult to create a breakthrough. If we want the country to develop sustainably, have an abundant budget, have rich provinces with enough strength to support poor provinces, and want the budget to have more money to support poor provinces, then there is no other way but to build expressways to create a major economic development driving force. The first step is to choose the most necessary and urgent sections to build.

The North-South expressway is expected to create a major breakthrough in socio-economic development.

Answering questions from some National Assembly deputies about the fact that out of 11 component projects, 3 are all public investment projects and the remaining 8 are invested in the form of BOT, Minister The said that with the Cao Bo - Mai Son project, although 15km short, a 4-lane expressway must be built to ensure the traffic volume of Hanoi - Nghe An - Ha Tinh is over 35,000 vehicles/day and night, increasing to 40,000 vehicles by 2020, without the expressway there will be congestion.

This section has already invested in 2 lanes, there is no reason not to invest in the entire 4-lane axis, but if we do BOT and then collect tolls, it will cause concern because the old road is reinvested and then collects tolls.

The second public investment project is the Cam Lo - La Son section to open the Ho Chi Minh road to Ca Mau cape by 2020, but this section does not have a highway yet. Therefore, the Government agreed to invest, but due to limited traffic, only 2 lanes were invested and 102 km of public investment was used with more than 7,000 billion VND.

The third project is My Thuan 2 bridge, with a special investment of 7km with public investment capital of about more than 5,000 billion VND to create momentum for the two BOT projects Trung Luong - My Thuan and My Thuan - Can Tho to speed up progress to open the route by 2020, Mr. The explained.

The highest BOT fee is 3,400 VND/km.

Regarding the fee collection mechanism, Mr. Nguyen Van The said that the Ministry of Transport is requesting a service fee mechanism for each project for 24 years. Currently, the Government has agreed to submit a secret fee collection to avoid the situation of collecting open tickets and calculating the amount that is paid.

Based on the provisions of the Law on Prices, to ensure reasonable compensation for actual production and business costs, with profits consistent with the market price level, the service price for using the North-South expressway is about 2,500 VND/standard passenger car (PCU)/km corresponding to a business period of about 24 years and the State capital contribution in the period of 2017 - 2020 is about 55,000 billion VND, Mr. The presented.

However, according to the Minister of Transport, to ensure reasonable and profitable compensation for actual production and business costs, in accordance with the market mechanism and people's ability to pay, the Government has determined the price at the time of putting into operation to be 1,500 VND/km. After that, according to the roadmap, every 2-3 years, it will increase by 200-300 VND. The highest collection level is 3,400 VND/km.

"Maybe the price is high now, but 24 years later, when the economy develops, collecting 3,400 VND may be too small," Minister The stated, adding that this plan is capable of mobilizing 70,000 billion VND to build 654 km from now until 2020, in addition to the state budget spending of 55,000 billion VND.

According to VOV