Many local people are dissatisfied with the location of the Quang Tri BOT Toll Station, believing that it is located in an inappropriate location, affecting the province's socio-economic development and their own lives. Faced with this reality, provincial leaders have made efforts to intervene with many petitions and proposals to the central government. However, this difficult "problem" has not yet received support from the central government to resolve.
The location of the BOT station is under the authority of the Ministry of Transport.
Quang Tri BOT Toll Station is located at km763+800 of National Highway 1, invested by Truong Thinh Group Joint Stock Company. The station is built on the North-South route through Quang Tri, at the southern gateway to Dong Ha City, the provincial capital of Quang Tri Province.
The station is located between two major urban areas of Quang Tri, Dong Ha City and Quang Tri Town, where the Quang Tri Ancient Citadel National Monument is located. With this location, the station accidentally “separates” Dong Ha City from Quang Tri Town and the two districts of Trieu Phong and Hai Lang. This “separation” has affected the socio-economic development of the province in general and the related localities in particular.
Quang Tri BOT station is said to be located in an inappropriate location, becoming a "barrier" to the province's development - Photo: TL
According to records, every day, the number of vehicles of organizations, businesses, and individuals in the above localities passing through BOT stations is quite large. Recently, people were excited when they heard that from December 29, 2023, the toll price at Quang Tri BOT Station will be adjusted to increase. Although we know that the toll increase is part of the roadmap and cannot be avoided, the pressure it causes still needs to be mentioned.
For several years now, to pass through the toll station, many Quang Tri residents have had to pay a large sum of money every month. That amount must now increase in the context of the general economic difficulties. It is worth noting that although the toll price has increased, the quality of the road surface invested by Truong Thinh Group has shown signs of deterioration. At many locations on the route, cracks, potholes, and ruts have appeared quite densely. Some severely damaged areas have been patched up temporarily.
Not only that, the appearance of the Quang Tri BOT Station has also disrupted the lives of many households in the vicinity of the station. Chairman of the People's Committee of Trieu Giang Commune, Trieu Phong District, Bui Quoc Hung, said that on average, each day, the commune's 5-meter wide concrete road has to "carry" 1,200 - 1,500 vehicles "avoiding" the station. Among the vehicles rumbling through this route, many have large loads, damaging roads and bridges. "On the main road of the commune, there are 3 schools with a lot of students. The constant passing of large and small vehicles increases the risk of traffic accidents. Many accidents have occurred, making people very worried," said Mr. Hung.
According to the investigation of Quang Tri Newspaper reporter, the toll station at km763+800 National Highway 1 was built to collect capital repayment for the BOT project to expand National Highway 1 from Dong Ha City to Quang Tri Town and the Investment Project to build the National Highway 1 expansion project from km741+170 to km756+705.
Previously, in the context of difficult state budget resources, attracting resources to invest in infrastructure development under the public-private partnership (PPP) method was considered necessary, in line with the policies of the Party and the State, so the Ministry of Transport (MOT) coordinated with the Provincial People's Committee to successfully call for investment in these two projects.
Upon completion, the projects will create a complete and synchronous axis along the entire National Highway 1 from Hanoi to Can Tho, promoting the socio-economic development of the whole country. It is known that during the implementation process, determining the location of the BOT station is under the authority of the Ministry of Transport and has been carried out by the ministry in accordance with the prescribed procedures.
Specifically, according to the provisions of Point 1, Article 4, Circular 15/2020/TT-BGTVT dated July 22, 2020 regulating the operation of toll stations for road use services, the criteria for establishing toll stations is "must be located within the scope of the project".
Efforts to remove shortcomings from BOT stations
However, during the implementation process, realizing the inadequacies in the location of the Quang Tri BOT Station, the provincial leaders directed and organized many meetings to collect opinions, exchange and discuss with relevant departments, branches, localities and Quang Tri BOT Company Limited to find solutions.
In particular, the working delegations of the provincial leaders had many working sessions, sending recommendations and proposals to the Prime Minister and relevant ministries and branches. It is known that from one of the proposals of the provincial leaders, the Ministry of Transport has approved a price reduction for vehicles of owners with permanent residence, organizations and enterprises with headquarters located in the area.
Since the Quang Tri BOT Station was put into use, the number of vehicles passing through the main road of Trieu Giang commune, Trieu Phong district has increased dramatically - Photo: TL
National Assembly Delegate Ha Sy Dong, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, has repeatedly reflected the people's thoughts and aspirations related to the Quang Tri BOT Station. According to Mr. Ha Sy Dong, since the BOT station was established, the people and voters in the area have frequently made complaints about the unreasonable location of the station. One of the things that has caused resentment among the people is that although people only use less than half of the BOT route, they have to pay for the service for the entire route.
According to Mr. Ha Sy Dong, in addition to creating a “division” and causing “barriers” to socio-economic development, choosing to locate the Quang Tri BOT Station at km763+800 of National Highway 1 also raises many other problems. In the process of investing in the transport system to serve the socio-economic development of the province, the traffic routes connecting to the BOT section on National Highway 1 did not receive the consensus of the Ministry of Transport and investors.
The reason given is that the connection will divide the traffic flow through the BOT station, affecting the financial plan signed between the Ministry of Transport and the BOT investor. “The lack of approval for the connection will cause many difficulties for the socio-economic development of the province and affect the lives of people in the area with half of the population of the 4 administrative units at the district, town and city levels, and at the same time pose a potential risk to security, order and traffic safety,” said Mr. Ha Sy Dong.
Faced with this reality, provincial leaders, including National Assembly delegate Ha Sy Dong, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, have proposed to the Government and the Ministry of Transport a plan to relocate the BOT station to the southern end of the province. Along with that, the second option proposed is that the State will support the budget to buy back the BOT station from the investor. Although the cost to buy back the station is very large, estimated at about 1,700 billion VND, this could be an effective solution to help overcome the difficulties.
Proposal to support resources to buy back BOT stations
In response to the recommendations of the provincial leaders, the Ministry of Transport has given specific responses. Accordingly, during the implementation process, the determination of the station location was carried out by the ministry in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law. Moving the toll station to the southern end of the province would be outside the scope of the project, not complying with the regulations on station location, and at the same time not being feasible in terms of financial solutions. In fact, since the time of collecting fees for the two projects, people and vehicles passing through the toll station have always complied with the regulations, and there has been no loss of security or order.
Also according to the Ministry of Transport, the direction of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, the Prime Minister as well as the opinions of ministries and branches is to implement according to the signed project contract, only proposing solutions to handle difficulties and shortcomings of toll stations related to the State's obligations. The Ministry of Transport is continuing to complete and unify to submit to the Prime Minister and the Government for consideration and decision. Through review, the above 2 projects have not met the requirements to be included in the list of handling shortcomings. The Ministry of Transport has directed relevant agencies to continue to assess the impact on BOT projects when putting expressway projects into operation, in order to have timely solutions.
During the implementation process, the toll rates, collection, payment, management and use of toll fees at toll stations are implemented according to the circular of the Ministry of Finance. The open toll collection method (by turn) has shortcomings and limitations in that it can only ensure relative fairness. In the neighboring areas, near toll stations, when using short distances, passing through the station still has to pay the toll, while vehicles traveling longer distances but not passing through the station also do not have to pay the toll.
Understanding that, implementing the Government's direction, the Ministry of Transport has negotiated with investors, proposed, and received approval to reduce fees for type 4 and type 5 vehicles. The Ministry has also approved the proposal of the provincial leaders to reduce prices for vehicles of owners with permanent residence registration, and business organizations with headquarters located in Quang Tri.
Regarding the connection of traffic routes with the BOT section on National Highway 1, the Ministry of Transport has issued Circular No. 39 on the management and protection of road traffic infrastructure. Accordingly, for the connection locations to national highways within the scope of investment projects under the PPP method, ensuring the requirements as prescribed in the Circular and the dossier submitted by the Department of Transport, with the consensus of the investor, the Provincial People's Committee decides to approve the connection points, announce and organize the implementation. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport requests the Provincial People's Committee to consider each specific location based on the need to connect local routes with National Highway 1, agree with the investor and decide according to its authority.
It can be seen that the way of doing things and the responses of the Ministry of Transport are reasonable and well-founded. Within its authority, the Ministry of Transport has also made efforts to resolve difficulties related to the above BOT station. However, the key issue of resolving the problem, serving the socio-economic development of the province and the travel of the people has not been resolved because the BOT station cannot be moved to another location. So the only way left is to buy back the BOT station from the investor, but this is beyond the province's budget capacity.
In the context of Quang Tri province having suffered much pain and loss during the two resistance wars, and now facing many difficulties, the construction and placement of BOT stations in inappropriate locations has been causing more problems, creating major barriers to local socio-economic development, and creating more financial "burdens" for the people.
Therefore, the officials and people of Quang Tri province are looking forward to the National Assembly and the Government supporting resources to buy back the BOT station from the investor, thereby helping the province to resolve difficulties and obstacles. This solution is considered reasonable and has been expected by local officials and people.
Tay Long
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