VietNamNet Bridge – A proposal by BIDV Expressway Development Company to collect a toll of VND1,000 per kilometre for users on the HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway from April 30 is causing concern among road haulers.


A proposed toll of VND1,000 per kilometre for users on the HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway is causing concern among drivers. (Photo: VNS)
The proposal for the toll was submitted to the Government by the company at the end of last year.


Le Quang Sung, of HCM City's District 10, said: "Asking me to pay VND60,000 is too expensive, considering I can just pay VND10,000 to travel on National Highway No 1A if I drive a car with four to seven seats."


Nguyen Son Tung from the southern province of Tien Giang owns a 2.5-tonne truck. He receives VND650,000 ($33) per cargo run, and after buying fuel and hiring a driver, he is left with VND280,000 ($14). If he had to pay VND120,000 ($6) for a two-way toll while travelling on the motorway, he would be left with a paltry VND160,000 ($8).


"I think I might use another road instead of the motorway," Tung said.


Dang Ba Linh, of HCM City's Binh Chanh District, said that the toll road was too expensive and it was unfair for different kinds of trucks to pay the same toll. "The motorway might end up with no-one using it," Linh said.


Phan Hong Quang, general director of the BIDV Expressway Development Company, said: "The toll is actually half what it should be. Over VND10 trillion ($513 million) was invested in building the road, if we charge a toll of VND1,000 per kilometre, it will take 36-38 years to recoup the investment,"


Quang argued that the toll road was not expensive, because it would only take half an hour to travel from Dem Market in HCM City's Binh Chanh District to southern Tien Giang Province on the motorway; saving an hour and half in travel time and associated fuel costs.


However, Associate Professor Pham Xuan Mai of HCM City University of Technology warned: "I think with a high toll like this, drivers will elect to travel on National Highway No 1A instead of the motorway to save money, so the national highway will face increased traffic jams."


The eight-lane 62-km expressway which has a 120 kilometre per hour speed limit is the first motorway in the country to meet international standards. It connects HCM City with the southern province of Tien Giang.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News