The Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV) has just approved the investment report and plans to select contractors for the automatic toll collection project at five airports nationwide.

The airports are Hà Nội’s Nội Bài, Hải Phòng City’s Cát Bi, Đà Nẵng, Huế City’s Phú Bài và HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất.

The toll collection equipment will be installed after 180 days after selecting a contractor and signing a contract, ACV said.

In addition, ACV plans to invest more than VNĐ214 billion (USS$8.8 million) from the development investment fund to modernise and synchronise existing fee collection systems at the airports which help reduce traffic congestion at airport entrances and exits and create more convenience for customers and improve passenger service quality.

With the existing millions of cars using non-stop Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) tags, the Ministry of Transport will build an integrated non-stop toll collection system at the airports, which can also accept highway ETC tags to pass through the airport's toll lanes without the need for additional tags or procedures.

The automatic non-stop toll collection for cars entering and exiting airports is consistent with the trend of applying scientific and technological advances to the transport industry and completing the management of airports.

According to statistics, Nội Bài and Tân Sơn Nhất airports have 16,000-20,000 vehicles passing through toll stations daily.

The toll collection at the airports is still manual. Drivers have to stop in front of the entrance toll station to get a card and pay cash at the exit which easily leads to congestion, especially around the holiday season.

At present, ACV collects service fees for vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers at two airport groups.

For Tân Sơn Nhất, Nội Bài and Đà Nẵng, vehicles entering and exiting within 10 minutes are charged VNĐ10,000 (40 US cents) for cars with less than nine seats, VNĐ15,000 (60 US cents) for cars with 10-30 seats, and VNĐ25,000 ($1.03) for cars with 30 seats or more.

The remaining airports charge VNĐ5,000 (20 cents), VNĐ10,000 (40 cents), VNĐ15,000 (60 cents) and VNĐ25,000 ($1.03) for cars less than nine seats, 10-16 seats, 16-29 seats and 30 seats, respectively.

Vehicles entering the airport for more than 10 minutes will be charged an additional car parking service fee.

Nguyễn Lê Thắng, vice general director of Việt Nam Electronic Toll Collection (VETC) Company, said that the deployment of non-stop toll collection at airports is an important step in the entire process of transforming current airports into smart ones and approaching the goal of smart urban areas in collecting fees of seaports, parking lots and vehicle registration.

In the near future, VETC application users can also soon fully utilise payment services developed by VETC such as car insurance and financial overdraft, Thắng said.

After a month of launching a new version in the form of VETC’s e-Wallet for ETC users, there are nearly 1 million downloads and about 250,000 users to pay for non-stop toll collection services, cashless gasoline payments, E-Tag exchange services, and money transfers between VETC wallets, he added. — VNS