Road toll collection to be inspected

Hanoi (VNA) – The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam has proposed the Ministry of Transport inspect fee collection at the toll station on Phap Van-Cau Gie expressway, the southern gateway to Hanoi, to prevent loss of fees.

The move was made following recent toll collection supervision at the station which found that total collection increased.

The supervision period was conducted over ten days, from July 10 to July 20.

Earlier this year, inspections supervised toll collection at the station following reports of alleged fraud committed by employees. They allegedly collected tolls from drivers at rates lower than those specified by the State without giving tickets to the drivers so that they could pocket the money.

The 10-day inspection discovered an increase of up to 700 million VND (31,400 USD) each day in comparison with the amount collected before the supervision.

However, a representative from the joint investor of the upgrade project on the Phap Van-Cau Gie Expressway explained that the increase resulted from more vehicles using the expressway.

The station is managed by the Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company.

The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam also proposed the Ministry of Transport to inspect all toll collection tasks at the station from the first day of fee collection.

The fees will be collected for 17 years and three months, starting from October last year, after the upgrade of the Phap Van-Cau Gie highway was completed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The upgrade in the first phase of the two-phase project, with total capital of more than 6.7 trillion VND (315 million USD), includes a revamp of the current four-lane, 25m-wide road. The second phase, worth more than 4.7 trillion VND (223 million USD), involves the expansion of the four-lane highway to a six-lane one, with a width of 33.5m.

It also asked the ministry to soon approve a master plan to increase supervision and transparency in toll collection in road projects managed by the ministry. The plan will focus on building fee collection and supervision software and complete related legal documents and regulations.

The ministry has required all investors of expressway projects to save data on the images of the number of vehicles going through toll stations for at least five years to serve inspection tasks when necessary.-VNA