Drivers protest high toll fees at the Can Tho-Phung Hiep BOT toll station in Can Tho Province
The regulation was made amid rising protests from drivers against the high fees at many stations in recent months.
The department said in its document sent to BOT investors, Vietnam Expressway Corporation, Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company and road management departments nation-wide, that the regulation aims to prevent congestion at the toll stations around the 2018 Lunar New Year Festival.
Besides the fee payment time limit, the department also asks to put up the P.131 parking signboards which ban drivers from parking within 100-200 metres of stations.
Director of the department, Nguyen Van Huyen, said that drivers can stop some minutes to pay the fee, and it can take a bit longer if they pay in small-value notes. But drivers who try to stop to cause congestion are violating the regulation and will be removed.
"The no-parking signboards will help ensure smooth traffic at the stations and make it easier for staff to deal with violations," Huyen said.
However, some experts and many drivers said that this is not a good solution to the problems at BOT toll stations.
Director of Phu Yen Provincial Department of Transport, Nguyen Thanh Tri, said that no driver wants to waste time at the toll stations unless they have a reason to do so.
"We are targeting at no stopping at toll stations, why there is a five-minute limit here," Tri said. "This showed that we're having problems in finding a solution to BOT toll fee issue. This is not a solution."
Tri said that they have just proposed to the Ministry of Transport to reduce fees for drivers at the An Dan BOT toll station in Tuy An District.
"But reducing fee is only a temporary solution," Tri added. "We hope that the Ministry of Transport will soon have measures to address the problems to ensure both the right of drivers and profit of investors."
