'The toll station just needs to take back its old name, Toll Station'

Overview of the meeting. Photo IT

Specifically, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said: “The renaming of “Toll Station” only needs to be changed to the old name “Toll Station” without having to submit it to the Government or take a long time to get opinions. Just get the old name back.”

Before answering questions from delegates, Minister Nguyen Van The reported on a number of issues related to the transport sector. Mr. Nguyen Van The said: Transport is a special economic sector that is of interest to the people. Transport must perform the function of pioneering. Recently, the Ministry has received many questions from voters and National Assembly delegates.

In recent times, the Ministry has always strived to implement the Party and State's resolution on transport infrastructure. However, due to limited budget resources, the organization and assurance of transport have many shortcomings. Transport has not developed evenly among regions, especially in mountainous and remote areas, which still face many difficulties.

Transportation is always a great need of the locality but the limited capital leads to only a part of it being met. Some areas such as railways have not been given due attention for a long time. Railways are the least developed of all current forms of transportation.

The traffic accident situation is complicated. The National Traffic Safety Committee, the Ministry of Transport and the entire political system have taken drastic measures. As a result, the number of traffic accidents, deaths and injuries has decreased, but the number of deaths due to traffic accidents is still high. In 2017, there were over 8,000 people, so there needs to be a breakthrough measure to reduce traffic accidents.

The Minister of Transport also said that the policy of developing BOT transport is correct, because the budget is limited and public debt is high. BOT projects contribute significantly to economic development for many localities nationwide, but in the past, there have been many shortcomings. The exploitation of BOT projects has been of public interest because of many problems. The Ministry of Transport and many ministries and branches are accepting and reviewing. "We are reviewing to change the name of BOT stations to match their nature. We will try to report to the Government as soon as possible with a new name that is suitable for current conditions. With the weaknesses of the industry, on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, we sincerely accept responsibility before the Party, the State and the people," said Mr. The.

Before the speech of Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said: The name "Toll Station" does not need to be submitted to the Government, it will take a lot of time, just need to return to the old name "Toll Station".

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the question and answer session. Photo: chinhphu.vn

Previously, in the regular meeting of the Government on June 2, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The reported on the issue of public concern about the names of BOT toll stations. Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport requested to continue studying to come up with a suitable name.

Regarding this issue, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said that BOT traffic fees are similar to tuition and hospital fees. In particular, although hospital fees have been adjusted to approach market value, they still have the same name, so there is no need to change the name to create a bad mentality among the people. The view of the Ministry of Public Security is also that the name "BOT toll station" should be kept.

Regarding this issue, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested the Ministry of Transport to absorb the opinions of functional agencies and the people, continue to research more appropriate names for BOT toll stations, and not use the name "toll station".