Research on building a toll collection mechanism for 10 expressways invested by localities

These are highway construction investment projects assigned by the National Assembly and the Government to localities for investment in the form of joint capital between the central budget and local budgets.

List of 10 expressway projects managed by localities, using mixed capital from the central budget and local budget.

The Ministry of Construction has just sent an official dispatch to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities; and the Vietnam Road Administration on studying and proposing a toll collection mechanism for expressway construction investment projects jointly invested by the central budget and local budgets.

Specifically, the Ministry of Construction assigned the Vietnam Road Administration to proactively work with local authorities to review the project's progress, agree on a plan to organize management, exploitation and toll collection for expressway construction investment projects that the State represents as the owner and directly manages and exploits, and divides the toll collection amount to the central budget and local budget for projects invested in the form of joint capital between the central budget and local budget.

The specialized state management agency for roads is responsible for preparing a detailed report on expressway construction investment projects by locality, investment capital structure, time limit for putting into operation, expected time for toll collection, etc., and submitting it to the Ministry of Construction for consideration and reporting to the Prime Minister .

The Ministry of Construction requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to coordinate and direct the Department of Construction and its affiliated agencies to promptly coordinate with the Vietnam Road Administration to perform the above tasks, unify and propose a plan to organize the collection of highway tolls and divide the tolls collected to the central budget and local budgets for projects invested in the form of joint capital between the central budget and local budgets to report to the Prime Minister, and complete legal regulations according to the direction of the National Assembly .

It should be added that, in implementing the provisions of Clause 3, Article 50 and Clause 1, Article 84 of the Road Law, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) has developed and submitted to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 130/2024/ND-CP dated October 10, 2024, regulating the collection of highway usage fees for vehicles traveling on expressways owned by the entire people and directly managed and operated by the State, including: Conditions and time of collection of highway usage fees; collection rates, collection, payment, exemption, management and use of highway usage fees under the management of the Ministry of Transport.

Currently, the Vietnam Road Administration and the Project Management Boards are urgently completing construction items, ensuring conditions for implementing expressway toll collection for 18 component projects on the Eastern North-South Expressway from January 1, 2026 to the first quarter of 2026.

For expressway construction investment projects assigned by the National Assembly and the Government to localities for investment in the form of joint capital between the central budget and local budgets, the National Assembly has stipulated: "The Government directs the Ministry of Transport to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, relevant ministries, branches and localities to develop a plan to recover project investment capital and return it to the central budget and local budgets according to the proportion of project investment capital contribution".

Regarding this content, in the process of developing the Draft Decree regulating the collection of fees for using expressways owned by the entire people and directly managed by the State, the Ministry of Transport has studied the plan to divide the revenue to refund to the central and local budgets according to the investment capital ratio of the Project, however, due to not being in accordance with the legal regulations on fees, it has not been stipulated in Decree No. 130/2024/ND-CP.

Therefore, the plan to refund to the central budget and local budget according to the investment capital contribution ratio of the Project needs to be further studied and proposed in the Project on exploiting road infrastructure assets according to the provisions of Decree 44/2024/ND-CP dated April 24, 2024 of the Government regulating the management, use and exploitation of road infrastructure assets.

It is known that there are currently 10 expressway projects that have been and are being invested in the form of public investment by localities, of which 1 route has been put into operation (Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho) and 9 expressway routes are under construction.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nghien-cuu-xay-dung-co-che-thu-phi-10-tuyen-cao-toc-do-dia-phuong-dau-tu-d366011.html