Ministry mulls slapping car users two new fees

The Ministry of Transport is seeking government approval to charge car owners four different types of fees including two new ones: fee to use roads and surcharge fee on fuel.

Currently, car owners are being imposed toll fees and fuel fees which experts say are very similar to the “surcharge fee on fuel” that has just been proposed.

The proposal was made by the transport ministry’s Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRV) which suggested the “fee to use roads” at VND180,000 (US$9) for every car per month.

DRV also proposed the “surcharge fee on fuel” to stand at VND1,000 and VND330 on every liter of gasoline and diesel that car users buy respectively.

With this fund, DRV suggested eliminating all toll booths across the country, except for around 40 toll stations under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts.

DRV has also proposed setting up a road maintenance fund which needs around VND12.2 trillion (US$610 million) per year. It expects to collect VND4.467 trillion from the newly-proposed fees to use roads.

Around VND5.765 trillion expected to be generated from the “surcharge fee on fuel” is also to be channeled towards this fund.

The government might have to support about VND1.968 trillion to add up.

DRV said this method is more effective than the current fee collection via toll booths.

But it also admitted a drawback in that there are sectors and industries that use fuel for purposes other than for travel, thus it would be unreasonable for them to pay this “fuel fee” which will serve road maintenance purposes.

Nguyen Manh Hung, chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, said “Besides the monthly road use fee and the fuel surcharge, cars have to pay toll fees from the 40 BOT booths that will still be in operation,”

“With cars and buses paying these fees, transport cost would soar”, Hung complained.

“The government is currently collecting a fuel fee of VND1,000 and VND500 per liter on gasoline and diesel… If the road maintenance fund is sourced from the [new] fuel surcharge, consumers would have to pay one more fuel fee” the head of a transport company lamented.