The HCMC People’s Council at an extraordinary meeting on December 30 approved collecting the road maintenance fee from motorbikes from Thursday as proposed by the city government.

Local residents can choose to pay the fee at the offices of communes, wards and towns or at their homes. Late payers may be fined up to three times the amount they are required to pay.

The owners of motorcycles with the capacity of 100 cubic centimeters or smaller will have to pay VND50,000 a year while the respective charges for bikes of 100-175 cubic centimeters and 175 cubic centimeters or above are VND100,000 and VND150,000 a year.

With nearly six million bikes and the lowest fee level of VND50,000 per bike imposed, HCMC will be able to collect VND300 billion to repair roads.

The owners of motorbikes registered in other localities can pay the fee in HCMC if they live and work in this city, and HCMC residents are allowed to pay the fee for their bikes in other localities. The fee is not imposed on battery-powered bikes.

The road fee exemptions are also applied to motorcycles registered by police and defense forces, poor people, students and those with great contributions to the nation’s revolution.

Wards and towns are permitted to keep 10% of the total amount they collect in the first year to cover collection cost while communes can get 20%. The remainder will be used by districts to develop rural transport systems and maintain roads.

HCMC vice chairman Nguyen Huu Tin told the council’s 17th meeting that bikers who refuse to pay the fee will be fined in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s Circular 186/2013/TT-BTC.

Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, chairwoman of the HCMC People’s Council, insisted that the road fee collection should be made fairly and transparently, and the collected money should be used efficiently.

She said as the fee is a heavy burden for many people who use their bikes to earn a living, the city government should consider more bikers free from the fee.

Toll rates for Phu My Bridge adjusted up

* The HCMC People’s Council on December 30 agreed on the city government’s proposal to increase the tolls that vehicles have to pay when crossing Phu My Bridge connecting HCMC’s District 2 with District 7 from Thursday..

The new fee levels will be revised up by one to five times, 1.35 times, and 1.16 times for under-12-seat vehicles, under-two-ton trucks and public buses; vehicles of 12-30 seats and trucks of 2-4 tons; and over-31-seat vehicles and trucks of 4-10 tons respectively. The tolls for container trucks are unchanged.