July 2012: Deadline for collecting road maintenance fees.

The Ministry of Transport and other relevant ministries have agreed on a plan for collecting road maintenance fees to submit to the Prime Minister, which includes direct revenue from vehicle registration fees. If approved by the Government, the collection of road maintenance fees will begin in early 2012. However, the latest deadline for fee collection is July 2012.

This opinion was expressed by Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong at a press conference on October 5th.

According to Deputy Minister Truong, the Ministry has proposed many options for the road maintenance fund in the past, and has now basically completed the final draft to submit to the government, which includes two options.

Under Option 1, road maintenance fees will be collected directly from motorized vehicles, including cars and motorcycles. The collection method will be monthly and divided by vehicle type. The fee will depend on the vehicle's weight and the type of vehicle using the road.

The fees for cars are divided into 7 groups, with the lowest being 180,000 VND/month and the highest 1,440,000 VND/month; the fees for motorbikes are divided into 4 groups: the lowest being 80,000 VND/year and the highest 150,000 VND/year.

In Option 2, road maintenance fees are collected directly from automobiles (no fees are charged for motorcycles) and indirectly through gasoline prices.

In this plan, the direct tax rate per gasoline-powered vehicle is divided into 7 groups, as in Option 1. The direct tax rate per diesel-powered vehicle is 1.5 times higher than that of vehicles in the same load capacity group.

However, with option 2, many argue that collecting the fee through fuel prices would unfairly require a group of people who do not use the roads to still pay maintenance fees, and that collecting the fee through fuel prices would also negatively impact the overall price level.

"Based on the opinions of relevant ministries and agencies, the Ministry of Transport has agreed to choose option 1. With this option, it is expected to generate between 8,000 and 10,000 billion VND annually," Deputy Minister Truong affirmed.

According to Deputy Minister Truong, the road maintenance fund is formed from two sources of revenue: the State budget is expected to cover 30%, and revenue from vehicles participating in traffic accounts for 70%.

"However, these revenue sources can only meet 70% of the road maintenance fund. After the fund becomes operational, the allocated budget may gradually decrease, and in the coming years, the revenue collected will meet the road maintenance funding needs," Deputy Minister Truong said.

According to the recently agreed plan, the fees collected per motorbike in each locality will be transferred to the local road maintenance fund of that locality.
The fees collected from each vehicle are transferred to the Central Road Maintenance Fund, with 65% used for national highway maintenance and 35% transferred to local funds. The principle for allocating funds to local funds is based on a coefficient of kilometers of road multiplied by the number of vehicles registered according to the standards in that locality.

Regarding the fee collection method, the tax authority will issue fee invoices, and the road vehicle inspection centers in the localities will be responsible for collecting the fees.

It is understood that the recently agreed-upon road maintenance fee scheme will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval in October.

According to Vietnam+