Motorbike and cars to pay road use fees from June

Motorbikes, cars and trucks and other engine vehicles throughout the nation will pay a road-use fee from June 1 to provide funds for road maintenance.

The funds, to go into the State Treasury account, will be divided into two parts, a central fund and a local fund, according to Decree 18/2012/ND-CP issued on Tuesday.

Fees collected from cars will go to the central fund (65 per cent) and to local funds (35 per cent). Motorbike fees will go to the local funds of each locality.

The central fund will be used to maintain the national road system while local funds would maintain local traffic streets and road systems.

Road Administration deputy chairman Nguyen Van Quyen said all current State fee collection stations would cease to operate in due course, except those under a Build, Operate and Transfer contract.

Quyen said the ministries of Transport and Finance were working together to prepare invoice demands for the fees for each vehicle owner by next week.

The Transport Ministry had earlier suggested that road-use fees for cars would be from VND180,000 to 1,440,000 (US$9-70) per month, payable by ticket purchase, with quarterly and annual tickets available. Motorbikes would pay VND80,000 to 150,000 ($4-7.5) per year in one instalment.

Cars owners could pay their fees at registered centres while motorbike owners would pay their fees at collection offices designated by local authorities.

The Ministry of Transport has estimated about VND6 trillion ($286million) a year would be collected from road-user fees which, when added to the current State budget for road maintenance, would meet 80 per cent of requirements.

They also calculated that after two years the State budget for maintenance would be reduced and after 12 years the fund would fully cover road maintenance demands.