Fee increase at Quang Trung market

The petition of business households in Quang Trung market sent to Nghe An Newspaper stated: since July 1st, after Mr. Phan Cong Thanh won the bid, the fee collection at Quang Trung market has skyrocketed. In which, there are items that were previously collected at 2,000 - 3,000 VND/turn, now increased to 4,000 - 5,000 VND/turn, even at seafood stalls the fee can increase from 15,000 VND to 20,000 VND/turn/person. According to the people, the above fee collection is too high compared to Decision 91/2006/QD-UBND of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued on September 13th, 2006 because Quang Trung market is a temporary market of type 3, according to regulations, the fee collection level is not more than 2,000 - 9,000 VND/turn/person.

Inquiring about this issue, we understand that before the end of 2010, the fee collection at Quang Trung market was done by the Market Management Board. However, at that time, the collection levels were not in accordance with the regulations of Decision No. 91 but were often collected from 1 to 4,000 VND higher. By January 2011, after a survey, the number of small traders trading at the market had increased significantly compared to previous years, so the Quang Trung Ward People's Committee decided to raise the market fee from 25 million VND to 47.5 million VND/month. Along with that, the environmental sanitation company also increased the environmental fee from 22.5 million VND to 34.2 million VND/month.

The market management board said that this fee was too high, so they asked to return the market because "the revenue was not enough to cover the expenses". Due to the situation where the market no longer had a manager, from January to June 2011, the Quang Trung Ward People's Committee temporarily managed the market and applied the fee according to Decision 91. However, from July 1, after the successful bidding, the new market management board was established, so the fee was higher than 6 months ago. Regarding the reason for this price increase, Mr. Phan Cong Thanh - Head of Quang Trung Market Management Board said: It is impossible not to increase the price because previously, Quang Trung Market Management Board only had to pay less than 50 million VND per month. Now, we have to pay 62 million VND per month for the bidding fee alone, plus nearly 33 million VND for cleaning fees, salaries for employees in the management board, electricity bills... so a higher fee is also natural.

In short, although under pressure to increase revenue, before increasing prices, the market management board should have a meeting, announcement and have a suitable roadmap for traders to comply.

Regarding some issues that people wonder whether the ward organized a bidding, forcing the market fee of small traders to increase, Mr. Le Duc Tho - Vice Chairman of Quang Trung ward affirmed: The bidding at Quang Trung market has been in place for many years and has been discussed many times at the People's Council meetings, but it was not until December 11, 2010 that the Vinh City People's Committee agreed. Regarding the starting price, we have also conducted many surveys, which showed that in recent years the number of households trading at the market has increased rapidly from about 500 households to more than 800 households, so the collected fee must certainly be higher. The ward's bidding is not only based on the bidding amount but also depends on the protection and market management plans of the bidding unit. In fact, there was a contractor who bid for 71 million VND/month, but we still awarded the bid to Mr. Thanh, even though the price he offered was only 62 million VND".

Taking advantage of the incident and the petition of the people at Quang Trung market, we surveyed a number of other markets in Vinh City and found that the regulations on collection fees according to Decision 91 of the Provincial People's Committee are no longer suitable. Therefore, from this incident, the Provincial People's Committee should soon issue regulations on new fee levels, because if following the old regulations, the province will lose billions of dong every year from market fee collection even though in reality people still pay and fully comply with market fluctuations.

Song Hoang