July 2012: Deadline for collecting road maintenance fees
The Ministry of Transport and relevant ministries have agreed on a plan to collect road maintenance fees to submit to the Prime Minister, which takes into account direct revenue through vehicles. If approved by the Government, the collection of road maintenance fees will be implemented in early 2012. However, the latest progress in collecting fees is no later than July 2012.
This opinion was given by Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong at a press conference on October 5.
According to Deputy Minister Truong, the Ministry has recently proposed many options for the road maintenance fund. Currently, the final draft has been basically completed to submit to the government, including two options.
In option 1, road maintenance fees will be collected directly from motor vehicles, including cars and motorbikes. The method of implementation is monthly collection and divided by vehicle group. The collection level depends on the tonnage and type of vehicle using the road.
The collection rate for cars is divided into 7 groups, in which the lowest is 180,000 VND/month and the highest is 1,440,000 VND/month; The collection rate for motorbikes is divided into 4 groups: the lowest is 80,000 VND/year, the highest is 150,000 VND/year.
In option 2, road maintenance fees are collected directly on cars (no fees are collected for motorbikes) and indirectly through gasoline prices.
In which, the direct collection rate on gasoline-fueled cars is divided into 7 groups as in option 1. The direct collection rate on diesel-fueled cars is 1.5 times higher than that of vehicles with the same tonnage group.
However, with option 2, many opinions say that if collected through gasoline, a group of people who do not use the road still have to pay maintenance fees, which is unfair, and collecting fees through gasoline prices will also more or less affect the price level.
“Based on the opinions of relevant ministries and branches, the Ministry of Transport has agreed to choose option 1. With this option, it is expected to earn from 8,000 to 10,000 billion VND each year,” Deputy Minister Truong affirmed.
According to Deputy Minister Truong, the road maintenance fund is formed from two sources of revenue including: State budget is expected to meet 30%, and revenue from vehicles participating in traffic 70%.
“However, these revenue sources can only meet 70% of the road maintenance fund. After the fund is operational, the budget allocation may gradually decrease and in the coming years, the revenue will meet the road maintenance funding needs,” said Deputy Minister Truong.
Also according to the newly agreed plan, the management of fees collected on motorbikes in each locality will be transferred to the local road maintenance fund.
The fees collected from the number of cars transferred to the Central Road Maintenance Fund are used 65% for national highway maintenance, 35% is transferred to local funds. The principle of dividing the funds to local funds is based on the coefficient of road kilometers multiplied by the number of cars according to the standards registered 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 carry out the fee collection.
It is known that the road maintenance fee collection plan that has just been agreed upon will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval in October.
According to Vietnam+
