Proposal for the Government to regulate the conditions and timing of highway toll collection.

Continuing the agenda of the 34th Session on June 11th, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly gave its opinion on the explanation, acceptance, and revision of the draft Law on Roads.

Reporting on several major issues regarding the explanation, acceptance, and revision of the draft Law at the session, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, Le Tan Toi, stated that, based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies and the opinions of agencies during the revision process, and to align with practical realities, the Standing Committee of the Committee on National Defense and Security agreed with the Drafting Committee to propose to the National Assembly Standing Committee to revise Clause 4 of Article 8 to clearly define the responsibility for road management of the provincial People's Committees, and to assign the provincial People's Committees the authority to regulate the management of roads under their local jurisdiction.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, Le Tan Toi.

This regulation essentially inherits the current regulations on the management of local roads that have been stably implemented under the 2008 Road Traffic Law; at the same time, it increases the proactive role of provincial People's Committees in delegating the management of local roads to district and commune-level authorities, ensuring that the delegation of management is directly linked to the grassroots government.

Accordingly, Clause 4 of Article 28 and Clause 2 of Article 37 are amended to stipulate the responsibilities for investment, construction, management, operation, exploitation, and maintenance of roads in accordance with the road management level as prescribed in Article 8 of the draft Law.

Regarding investment, construction, and development of expressways, Mr. Le Tan Toi stated that, based on the consensus with the Drafting Committee and relevant agencies, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposed to the National Assembly Standing Committee to add paragraph 2 to Clause 5, Article 47 to stipulate the following: “In cases where a project is decided to be divided into sub-projects or component projects, the investment policy decision-making authority shall decide to assign a lead agency to be responsible for organizing the implementation of the project, ensuring the overall coherence and synchronization of the entire project; and shall be responsible for reviewing, harmonizing, balancing, and agreeing on adjustments to the total investment amount among the sub-projects and component projects, ensuring that it does not exceed the preliminary total investment amount of the entire project for which the investment policy has been decided.”

Regarding highway tolls, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee proposed that the Standing Committee of the National Assembly add Clause 3 to Article 50, specifically as follows: “3. The Government shall regulate the conditions and timing for collecting highway tolls; and the collection of tolls for highways falling under the cases specified in Clause 1 of this Article that do not yet meet the requirements of Clause 1 of Article 45 and Clause 2 of Article 47 of this Law.”

Furthermore, Mr. Toi stated that, in order to ensure consistency with the authority to invest in and manage expressways, and to align with the law on fees and charges, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee and the Drafting Committee proposed that the Standing Committee of the National Assembly amend Clause 1, Article 84 of the draft Law to include a provision assigning the Provincial People's Council the authority to regulate the fees for using expressways invested in by the locality.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly gave its opinion on the explanation, acceptance, and revision of the draft Law on Roads.

In his concluding remarks, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong requested the drafting agency and the agency in charge of verification to study, incorporate, and provide clearer explanations on several points:

Regarding the classification of roads by management level, it is proposed to review Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 8 on management decentralization to ensure consistency with Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 28 on decentralization and delegation of authority to local government levels.

Regarding land allocation for road infrastructure, it is proposed that regulations be carefully reviewed to ensure they are comprehensive and not overly detailed as in the current Law, appropriate for each type of urban area, suitable for current conditions, and include an implementation roadmap and future forecasts. They should also be suitable for both new and existing urban areas, and studies should be conducted to establish transitional conditions that are consistent with the National Assembly's resolutions on urban classification.

It is suggested that the National Defense and Security Committee coordinate with the Legal Committee and the drafting agency to revise Article 12 to be more general, avoiding overly detailed provisions to prevent difficulties in implementation.

Regarding investment, construction, and development of expressways, the issue of intelligent transportation, and other issues that need to be added, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong suggested that the drafting agency continue to add further information.

Regarding toll collection on expressways, it is proposed to add Clause 3 to Article 50, assigning the Government the authority to specify the conditions and timing for implementing toll collection on expressways .

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/de-xuat-chinh-phu-quy-dinh-dieu-kien-thoi-diem-thu-phi-duong-cao-toc-a667871.html