Inflation dominated the discussion at the two-day Government meeting inHanoi over the weekend, but at the press conference immediatelyfollowing, the hottest topic was extra fees for vehicles in congestedcities.
Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang saidthere will be no circulation fees for private vehicles or peak-hour feesfor cars in city centres this year.
The time framefor implementing these two fees is not yet fixed, according to theminister. The proposals still await approval from the Prime Minister andthe National Assembly.
"The Transport Ministry doesnot want to apply these two fees at the moment, given the country'scredit crunch," said Thang.
The fees have causedconcern among the public over the last few months, since they willrequire each car and motorbike owner to pay up to an extra 20-50 millionVND (950-2,380 USD) per year.
"The personal vehiclefee is ridiculous," said Hanoian Nguyen Quang Hung. "I have both a carand a motorbike, but I only use one at a time. I drive my car whenever Itravel outside the city centre and I take my motorbike to work. If thefee is applied, I'll rent out my motorbike and just drive my car to thecity centre since I'd have to pay for both vehicles anyway."
Minister Thang explained that these two fee categories are initiativesfrom the Government and the National Assembly, and not from hisministry.
If a private vehicle fee is applied, itwill affect some 600,000 private cars and millions of motorbikes inVietnam 's five biggest cities of Hanoi , HCM City , Da Nang ,Hai Phong and Can Tho, according to the minister.
Poor people and suburban residents will not have to pay the fee, he said.
Thang said local governments will have control over the particularcharacter of the fees imposed. The Transport Ministry estimated that thepersonal vehicle charges taken from some 600,000 private cars alone canamount to 12 trillion-15 trillion VND (20 million-25 million USD) ayear.
The implementation of the road maintenance feewill also be postponed, the minister said, though it is put in place bythe Road Traffic Law that took effect in 2009. The reason for the delayis that there are still no documents providing instructions on feeimplementation.-VNA
Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang saidthere will be no circulation fees for private vehicles or peak-hour feesfor cars in city centres this year.
The time framefor implementing these two fees is not yet fixed, according to theminister. The proposals still await approval from the Prime Minister andthe National Assembly.
"The Transport Ministry doesnot want to apply these two fees at the moment, given the country'scredit crunch," said Thang.
The fees have causedconcern among the public over the last few months, since they willrequire each car and motorbike owner to pay up to an extra 20-50 millionVND (950-2,380 USD) per year.
"The personal vehiclefee is ridiculous," said Hanoian Nguyen Quang Hung. "I have both a carand a motorbike, but I only use one at a time. I drive my car whenever Itravel outside the city centre and I take my motorbike to work. If thefee is applied, I'll rent out my motorbike and just drive my car to thecity centre since I'd have to pay for both vehicles anyway."
Minister Thang explained that these two fee categories are initiativesfrom the Government and the National Assembly, and not from hisministry.
If a private vehicle fee is applied, itwill affect some 600,000 private cars and millions of motorbikes inVietnam 's five biggest cities of Hanoi , HCM City , Da Nang ,Hai Phong and Can Tho, according to the minister.
Poor people and suburban residents will not have to pay the fee, he said.
Thang said local governments will have control over the particularcharacter of the fees imposed. The Transport Ministry estimated that thepersonal vehicle charges taken from some 600,000 private cars alone canamount to 12 trillion-15 trillion VND (20 million-25 million USD) ayear.
The implementation of the road maintenance feewill also be postponed, the minister said, though it is put in place bythe Road Traffic Law that took effect in 2009. The reason for the delayis that there are still no documents providing instructions on feeimplementation.-VNA
