According to the Ministry of Transport, payment for the City's TrungLuong Expressway will be made in three phases over six months inexchange for permission to collect toll fees at four major toll booths–at Cho Dem, Ben Luc, Tan An and Than Cuu Nghia from January 1 next year.
The Cuu Long Infrastructure Investment Developmentand Management Corporation (Cuu Long CIMP) was commissioned to sign thecontract and transfer the toll booths to the company.
"The toll collection right will last just five years because it willbe difficult for investors to mobilise capital to buy the right to alonger period of toll collection," Deputy Minister of Transport NguyenHong Truong told Thoi bao Kinh Te Sai Gon (Saigon Economic Times).
The bid follows an earlier purchase by the BIDV Expressway DevelopmentCompany (BEDC) for more than 9.1 trillion VND (433 million USD).
The BEDC agreement was initially intended for a 25-year periodfollowing the expressway's completion in 2010, but collapsed a yearlater due to capital problems.
The Cuu Long CIPM wasassigned to collect the fees on behalf of the ministry from Februarylast year, while also opening bids to investors.
Toll amounts reached 380 billion VND (18 million USD in the first year,of which, 65 billion VND (3 million USD) was spent on annual roadmaintenance.
The six-lane road, with a length of62km, was built at a cost of nearly 10 trillion VND (476 million USD).The major highway connects Ho Chi Minh City to Tien Giang province inthe Mekong Delta and allows vehicles to travel at 120km per hour.-VNA