Road maintenance fees for motorbikes: Lack of feasible solutions!

(Baonghean.vn) - In 2014, the Road Maintenance Fund collected about 25 billion VND in road usage fees for motorbikes and scooters (reaching about 67% of the assigned estimate). In the first 6 months of 2015, only over 1.7 billion VND in road usage fees for motorbikes and scooters were collected, reaching about 12.3% of the assigned estimate. All 21/21 districts and towns did not collect as planned.

Implementing the policy of the Government and the Ministry of Transport, the collection of road maintenance fees has been directed, disseminated and mobilized by authorities at all levels and the transport sector of Nghe An to clearly understand and comply with Decree 18/2012/ND-CP dated March 13, 2012 of the Government and Circular No. 197/2012/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2012 of the Ministry of Finance. On August 15, 2013, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Decision No. 42/2013/QD-UBND stipulating the subjects, collection levels, collection methods, and rates of road use fees for motorbikes in the area. Accordingly, motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of up to 100 cm3, in Vinh city, will be charged 80,000 VND, in other areas, 60,000 VND; Vehicles with cylinder capacity over 100 cm3, in Vinh city collect 130 thousand, other areas collect 110 thousand. For wards and towns, 8% is left, for communes, 15% is left.

Due to lack of sanctions, many people do not pay the fee. This is creating unfairness, which is one of the reasons why the road maintenance fee for motorbikes is low.

Implementing Decision 42/2013 of the Provincial People's Committee (August 2013), localities deployed plans, established apparatus, collected, surveyed, and reported data, on that basis, the provincial level assigned the budget to localities. The preparation work was completed, and the collection was carried out by the end of 2013. The direct level of collection was the commune level, which was actually assigned to the hamlets. From this source of tolls, the transport sector has created a source to supplement the budget for maintenance and protection of traffic works. However, toll collection still encountered many difficulties and shortcomings, and the results were low. In 2014, the Road Maintenance Fund collected about 25 billion VND in road use fees for motorbikes and scooters, reaching about 67% of the assigned estimate. In the first 6 months of 2015, for many reasons including the late issuance of the Decision on assigning the 2015 toll collection estimate, the Road Maintenance Fund collected more than 1.7 billion VND, only reaching about 12.3% of the assigned estimate.

In Vinh City - where the number of motorbikes is the largest with 54,564 vehicles, but the toll collection results have gradually decreased, in 2013 the fund paid 3.659 billion VND, in 2014 it only paid 2.22 billion VND, and in the first 6 months of 2015 it was less than 600 million VND. There are many wards and communes having difficulty in collecting fees. Mr. Nguyen Danh Phuong - Accountant of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee, Vinh City said: According to statistics, there are about 4,100 motorbikes in the ward. In 2013 - the first year of collection, Hung Dung Ward collected the highest amount in the city with 464 million VND. However, in 2014 it only paid about 134 million VND. In the first 6 months of this year, the ward has deployed to the blocks, but most of them responded that because of the information that many localities stopped collecting fees, there were no sanctions for those who did not comply... so people did not agree. "Because of the lack of sanctions and only relying on voluntary spirit, many people do not pay," said Mr. Phuong.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh - Chief of Office of the Road Maintenance Fund of Nghe An province, the implementation of collecting road maintenance funds for motorbikes is still facing many difficulties. The implementation of collecting road usage fees for motorbikes is still facing many difficulties. The reason is that Nghe An is a large province, with many mountainous districts and sparsely populated areas, so the collected fees are small, so the remaining costs for collection are not enough to cover the costs. The statistics of the number of motorbikes in localities are facing many difficulties, and the statistics are inevitably different from reality. The police force has not yet punished vehicle owners who do not pay road usage fees for motorbikes, so people are not willing to pay the fees voluntarily. Therefore, although the need for maintenance of local roads is very large (over 14,000 km of district and commune roads), the Fund's revenue is low, not enough and timely.

Meanwhile, currently, vehicle owners who do not pay road use fees per vehicle will be subject to administrative penalties according to the provisions of Circular 186/2013/TT-BTC and related legal documents, with fines ranging from 1 to 3 times the fee. However, only competent authorities in the field of fees and charges have the authority to impose or propose penalties; the procedures for inspection, examination and preparation of records for handling violations are cumbersome, so they are not currently applied.

“Many people have reported that when checking compliance with traffic safety laws, traffic police do not require compliance with road use fees. In fact, those who pay and those who do not pay are the same, creating inequality. Therefore, in the coming time, the implementation of collecting road maintenance funds for motorbikes will face difficulties, because people feel that they will not be punished for not paying,” said Mr. Phuong, Accountant of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee.

Talking to us, Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky - Provincial Party Committee member, Director of the Department of Transport said that Nghe An is still a poor province with a large area, with over 14,000 km of district and commune roads, with a huge need for repairs, while the budget is difficult, the funding for road maintenance and repair is limited, so the motorbike fee for the road maintenance fund is a very important source of funding, contributing to effectively supporting the work of road maintenance and repair, reducing the burden of maintenance costs for the State. The goal and meaning of the policy are very good, but in reality, the implementation still has many problems.

Currently, the Ministry of Transport is also very concerned about whether or not to collect road maintenance fees for motorbikes because it is related to the budget and directly affects localities. However, if implemented without sanctions, it will be very difficult to collect and will not be effective. In addition, some localities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang ... have proposed not to collect road maintenance fees for motorbikes. However, these are localities with large budget revenue sources, so the removal of fees will have almost no impact, but for poor provinces, this may be a burden. At the 14th session of the Provincial People's Council for the 2011-2016 term, there was no resolution to stop collecting fees, which also means that Nghe An has not decided to stop collecting fees. “Since 2015, Nghe An province has allowed localities to deduct 60% of the total amount collected from road use fees for motorbikes and scooters to rebuild and repair rural roads in the new rural construction movement. Thanks to that, this movement has been accelerated and brought more positive results, local people in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas have also benefited from the Road Maintenance Fund. Nghe An has sent a document requesting the Central Road Maintenance Fund and the Ministry of Transport to allow localities to continue collecting road use fees for motorbikes and scooters” – Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh - Chief of Office of the Road Maintenance Fund of Nghe An province.

Thu Huyen