Traffic piles up on the Ben Thuy Bridge section of the National Route 1A in the central province of Nghe An (Photo: VNA)Vehicles eligible for the waiver include Type 1 and Type 2vehicles owned by permanent residents of and organisations or enterprisesheadquartered in Vinh city and Hung Nguyen district of Nghe An province, NghiXuan district and Hong Linh town of Ha Tinh province, as well as public busesrunning through the station.
Type 1 vehicles include cars with less than 12 seats and trucksweighing less than two tonnes, the MoT said. Type 2 vehicles include cars with12-30 seats and trucks weighing from two to four tonnes.
The toll charge waiver comes into effect on April 24.
The people’s committees of the two provinces are responsible fordirecting concerned authorities to collaborate with local enterprises toidentify the number of vehicles eligible for the waiver before April 20.
The decision was made following local citizens’ request to removeboth the Ben Thuy I and Ben Thuy II toll stations on the Ben Thuy Bridge onApril 9 due to the high toll fee charged by the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)investor Civil Engineering Construction No 4 Joint Stock Company (Cienco 4).
The company was reportedly collecting tolls from vehicles thatwere not using the BOT sections.
Hundreds of locals from Nghi Xuan district andVinh city have protested the toll charges by covering their vehicles with bannersand driving across the Ben Thuy Bridge. That protest has taken place severaltimes since the end of March.
Despite an MoT decision to halve tolls atthe two toll stations on April 3, protesters continued by using banknotesof less than 1,000 VND (0.04 USD) to pay tolls, causing severe congestionsand delays on the bridge.
Hundreds of drivers gathered at the twostations on the morning of April 9 to sign a complaint to be "sent tothe Government and National Assembly," requesting theauthority’s "intervention" regarding the high tolls.-VNA
VNA
