Gov’t asks ministries to rethink toll on southern expressway

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has requested related agencies to consider the petition of transport associations on reducing the toll on HCM City-Trung Luong expressway.Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade will have to deal with the HCM City Cargo Transport Association and the An Giang Province Transport Association’s petition on slashing the toll. Tolls have been collected on the HCM City-Trung Luong expressway from February 25. Since then, many transport companies have complained of the high toll. Many trucks have evaded the expressway to run on National Highway.The HCM City Cargo Transport Association and the An Giang Province Transport Association immediately lodged complaints to the Prime Minister, Minister of Transport and Minister of Finance over the toll. They asked the government to cut down the toll by a half and to not place toll stations on National Highway 1A.According to the associations, trucks of over 10 tonnes are the main vehicles used by transport companies to transport goods from HCM City to provinces and the Mekong Delta and vice versa. The current toll on trucks of over 18 tonnes is VND8,000 per one kilometer, so transporters have to pay up to VND640,000 ($30.5) for a trip. The toll is too high compared to profit earned by transporters, which is estimated at VND300,000-400,000 ($14-19) for a trip within a 100km diameter. If transporters do not raise charges by at least 20 percent, profit will be not enough to pay the toll.They asked the govrnment to cut down the toll by a half and to not place toll stations on National Highway 1A, which also links HCM City to the Mekong Delta.According to the association, it is unreasonable to place toll stations on this road to collect tolls in order to compensate for the investment in the HCM City-Trung Luong expressway.Shortly after the two associations complained of the toll, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong said that the toll applied for the southern expressway is reasonable to compensate the huge investment capital in this road and to have capital to invest in other projects.The deputy minister also confirmed that two toll stations would be built on the National Highway 1, which also links HCM City to the Mekong Delta. He said that the government had invested a lot of money to upgrade the National Highway 1. Toll would be collected on this road in order to compensate for investment in this road and the expressway. Moreover, if toll is applied, trucks will not switch traveling from the expressway to the national highway.“If toll is not collected, the National Highway 1 will be overloaded and the road will be broken after a period of time. The Transport Ministry has asked the Prime Minister’s approval to build toll stations on the National Highway 1,” the deputy minister said.The official said that transporters would have to consider of raising transport charges because if charges are too high, clients will not use their services.Vietnamnet/ Thu Ha