The capital's Department of Transport will stop licensing new taxi operations during the 2012-15 period in order to set up better management policies.

The department will stop licensing new taxi firms seeing as numbers are currently sufficient to demand, said director Nguyen Quoc Hung.

An increase in taxi numbers, coupled with unequal distribution, has added to traffic jams during peak times, according to department information.

Moreover, some taxi enterprises operate badly maintained vehicles alongside shoddy service quality.

The department additionally plans to zone in taxi operations with Belt Road No 3, which runs through seven suburban districts, as boundary.

Taxies operating inside the belt road, to be painted the same colour by 2015, will have to pay fees to fund repairs to traffic infrastructure while those operating outside, also painted the same colour, won't be allowed inside.

"Enterprises will be responsible for contributing to society," Hung said.

The project will also encourage taxi firms to invest in equipment in support of disabled people while each company will be required to have at least 30 percent of its vehicles running on pure fuel.

Inspectors from the Ministry of Transport are scheduled to inspect 15-20 taxi enterprises in Hanoi from December 5 to 15 and nine taxi firms in HCM City from December 15-20.

During a recent one-month investigation in Hanoi , four taxi companies were suspended from operations due to mismanagement.

The city currently has 113 taxi enterprises running more than 15,000 vehicles, according to department statistics./.