Motorway toll stations in different localities nationwide have been discovered mistakingly collecting vehicle fees.
On April 8, Thien Tan Investment and Construction JSC put into operation the first phase of a bypass project in Duc Pho District, Quang Ngai Province under a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) contract. This is the first BOT project in the province. The first stage is VND600 billion (USD28.5 million) 9.7km road section. On April 18, the investor began operating a toll station as part of the project to recoup its investment capital.
Ninh An Toll Station
However, the toll booth was positioned on National Highway 1A, 5km from the bypass. Therefore many vehicles that were not using the bypass were forced to pay fees.
Ha Hoang Viet Phuong, Deputy Director of Quang Ngai Province’s Transport Department said, “We have considered this, but the ministries of Transport and Finance allowed us to put the station on the national highway, therefore all traffic has to pay the fees despite them travelling along the highway.”
He also added that if the toll booth was situated on the bypass, the project would not attract the investor because the fees would not be enough to cover the investment capital.
Although the Ca pass tunnel project has not yet been started, the project investor Ca Pass Tunnel Investment JS Company has already been allowed to collect fees at two toll stations.
The Ministry of Transport agreed for the investor to take over Ban Thach toll booth in June and Ninh An booth in August for carrying out the project, however, to date, the project has not yet begun work.
Nguyen Thanh Quang, former Party Secretary of Phu Yen Province said the investor should only have been permitted to operate the toll stations when the project had been completed; and again both toll booths were quite far from where the project will be implemented.
Company spokesperson Dao Ngoc Thanh explained the anomaly saying, “Due to difficulties in implementing the project, the government agreed to let us operate the two toll stations. Based on fees, we could meet the requirements to get a loan of VND364 billion from the banks. The fees collected now are mostly used for repaying the loan.”
Dong Nai Bridge Investment and Construction JS Company manages Song Phan Toll Station on National Highway 1A in Ham Thuan Nam District, Binh Thuan Province. Under the BOT contract, the company collects the fees to recover its investment capital for the new Dong Nai bridge construction within 29 years and 11 months, starting from January 2009.
However, drivers have complained about how the fees have been collected because the station is up to 140km from the bridge.
Nguyen Van Minh, a driver in Ham Minh Commune, said that over recent years his vehicle has only operated within the locality and never used Dong Nai Bridge, but every day, he still has to pay fees.
Tran Trung Nguyen, Head of the toll station, said the toll station was scheduled to be removed to the new Dong Nai Bridge area by the end of 2014, but the specific timetable had not yet been given because the relocation depended on pace of bridge construction.
According to a preliminary statistics report by Binh Thuan Province’s authorities, around 5,000 vehicles pass through Song Phan Toll Station every day, bringing the station hundreds of millions of dong in revenue.
