Ministry drafts circular on expressway toll fees

Laws - Under a draft circular on the toll collection on HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway drawn up the Ministry of Finance, the fees will range from VND1,000 to VND8,000 for each kilometer.

Accordingly, with the expressway’s total length of 40 kilometers, the highest toll will go to heavy trucks with VND320,000.

According to the ministry, the toll on this expressway, starting from Dem Market in HCMC’s Binh Chanh District, passing through Long An Province and ending in Than Cuu Nghia of Tien Giang Province’s Chau Thanh District, is calculated based on the length each vehicle covers as the route has several interchanges.

Therefore, “it is impossible to collect VND320,000 from 18-ton trucks traveling from Dem Market to an interchange in Tan An City in Long An,” said a representative of the ministry.

Specifically, vehicles of under 12 seats, under-two-ton truck and buses will pay the lowest fee of VND1,000 for every kilometer while the highest of VND8,000 is for over-18-ton trucks and 40-feet containers.

The Ministry of Transport will decide when to start collecting toll fees that will also be paid to the state coffer. The toll collector will receive 10% of the total collected amount to pay for collection activities.

Previously, the transport ministry has proposed the Prime Minister to let investors start collecting from the beginning of next year. However, due to financial difficulties of this build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, investors have withdrawn from the project as well as transferred toll collection to the transport ministry.