VietNamNet
Bridge – The Government should put off
collecting the road-maintenance fee until the economy recovers, transport
operators told a conference in HCM City yesterday, May 9.
According
to the Ministry of Transport's proposal, the lowest rate will be VND180,000 per
month levied on cars with less than 12 seats and trucks of less than two
tonnes.
At the
other end will be a VND1.44 million levy on trucks weighing above 27 tonnes and
40-foot container trucks.
Tran
Huy Hien, general secretary of the Viet Nam Freight Forwarders Association,
said logistics costs in Viet Nam were already the highest in the world, with
transport accounting for 50-60 per cent of it.
The new
fee would push up logistics costs even more, reducing the competitiveness of
Vietnamese products, he warned.
Admitting
that collecting the fee would help the Government maintain roads and improve
infrastructure, he said however that it should not be imposed at a time when
the global and Vietnamese economies remain unstable.
Dinh
Nam Dinh, deputy chairman of the HCM City Goods Transport Association, said the
fee would exacerbate an already difficult situation for transporters.
Many
delegates also wanted the ministry to review the fee regime, saying it was
unreasonable. "A container truck had to pay separate rates for its cabin
and trailer, an unreasonable demand because they are a combination," they
said.
Besides,
the fee would be levied on all the vehicles an individual or organisation owns,
which was again unfair since they could own many but only use one or a few at a
time, they said.
More
irrationally, Hien said, the fee would be collected every time a vehicle was
certified as roadworthy, which could be several times a year depending on its
make.
The
Government should pay heed to citizens, experts, and industry associations
before introducing the new fee, he said.
Dinh
also urged the Government to consider the rates to ensure fair treatment to
all.
He said
relevant agencies should closely control the quality of roads. If they are
built in accordance with the quality standards, repair costs, to be sourced
from the fee, would be lower, he said.
Delegates
said there had to be a clear and transparent mechanism to manage and use the
fund.
The fee
was earlier planned to be collected from June 1, but the Government recently
put it off to January.
VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News
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