Businesses propose regulations to temporarily stop collecting tolls on degraded highway sections
Commenting on the Draft Decree regulating the collection of highway usage fees, VCCI proposed adding a provision on suspension instead of just regulating the collection of fees.
The Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said this is a proposal compiled from businesses when giving comments on the Draft Decree regulating the collection of highway usage fees that the Ministry of Transport is drafting.
Explaining this proposal, VCCI said that businesses are particularly concerned about the deterioration of road quality affecting vehicle traffic but still have to pay fees.
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| The Hanoi - Thai Nguyen route is among seven highways warned to not meet highway safety standards . |
For example, in 11 expressways expected to collect tolls (including Hanoi - Thai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong, Cao Bo - Mai Son, Mai Son - National Highway 45, National Highway 45 - Nghi Son, Nghi Son - Dien Chau, Cam Lo - La Son, La Son - Hoa Lien, Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet, Phan Thiet - Dau Giay, My Thuan - Can Tho), businesses reported that the Hanoi - Thai Nguyen route is among 7 expressways that have been warned of not meeting expressway safety standards, including 15 traffic accidents from 2022 to October 2023 due to degraded road surfaces causing drivers to lose control.
In the long term, the quality of roads may deteriorate if they are not regularly maintained, especially BOT roads that, when their contracts expire, will be handed over to the State and continue to collect tolls.
The current Draft does not have any provisions on suspending toll collection in cases where service quality is not guaranteed, such as congestion at toll stations (toll stations must be cleared) or road quality is degraded, traffic speed is not guaranteed, or traffic accident rates are high.
The provisions on conditions and procedures for fee collection (in Articles 3 and 4) are only suitable for application in cases where fee collection begins, and cannot be extended to apply in cases where fee collection is suspended or resumed.
“Therefore, we recommend that the drafting agency add regulations on cases of temporary suspension of toll collection, including cases due to degraded road quality, not ensuring speed and safety for vehicles in circulation,” VCCI recommended to the Drafting Committee.
At the same time, the organization representing the business community also proposed adding regulations allowing vehicle owners, especially transport business associations, to monitor road quality and make recommendations to the management agency (Ministry of Transport or Provincial People's Committee) to stop collecting fees when road quality deteriorates.
“It is recommended to add regulations on an independent mechanism to check road quality and decide to stop or continue to collect fees when the business association and the road management agency cannot agree,” VCCI proposed.
In addition, VCCI also suggested that the drafting agency consider classifying the toll levels in more detail based on the quality of the route such as the number of lanes and the maximum speed allowed on the route. This will help accurately reflect the value of services and benefits received from each expressway, thereby having appropriate corresponding toll levels.
Currently, the Draft Decree has provisions on toll rates divided by vehicle type and route quality. Accordingly, the quality of the route will be divided into two levels, including routes that meet the standards and highway standards stipulated in the Road Law 2024 and routes that do not meet this requirement (built earlier).
However, according to many businesses, dividing road quality like this is still not enough. In reality, the quality of highways can be quite diverse in terms of the number of lanes (4 lanes, 6 lanes, and more), the maximum speed allowed (80 km/h, 100 km/h, 120 km/h...) and in the future there will be higher quality highways.
For example, the planning of expressways expands the lane scale of the routes Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong to 8 lanes; My Thuan - Can Tho, National Highway 45 - Nghi Son - Dien Chau, Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet to 6 lanes; and Mai Son - National Highway 45, Cam Lo - La Son - Hoa Lien to 4 complete lanes...
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