Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi speaks. Photo: Lam Hien
On the afternoon of March 15, at the National Assembly House, continuing Session 31, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly listened to opinions on the explanation, absorption and adjustment of the draft Law on Roads, which includes provisions on expressways.
Presenting major issues regarding the explanation, absorption, and adjustment of the draft Law on Roads, Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Le Tan Toi stated that with regard to general regulations on expressways (Article 47 of the draft Law on Government), there is a proposal to stipulate that expressways must have a minimum of 4 lanes and must have an emergency lane.
The Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee sees that the above-mentioned opinion is reasonable. However, the construction of expressways still depends on the ability to balance the budget and mobilize resources. On the other hand, this is a matter of standards and technical regulations, which will be studied and detailed by the Ministry of Transport.
“Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee suggests not to specify these contents in the draft Law,” Mr. Le Tan Toi said.
Will tolls on expressways be paid by the state?
Regarding the tolls for using expressways (Article 54 of the draft Law on Government), there is a proposal to assess the necessity of stipulating the collection of tolls for using expressways on expressways invested, owned, managed and exploited by the state.
The Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee sees that in order to implement the National Assembly’s policy on investment approval for expressway routes, the Ministry of Transport has carried out studies on toll collection options on expressways invested by the state, evaluating the impact in cases of toll collection and no toll collection for expressways invested by the state.
The results show that expressways invested by the state all have parallel national roads, allowing traffic participants to choose to use the expressway or the national road; traffic participants on expressways enjoy more benefits; the current form of road toll collection does not classify regular road users and expressway users (who receive better service quality).
Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Defense and Security Committee agrees with this content in the draft Law on Government and proposes to amend and supplement the regulations of the Law on Fees and Charges as stipulated in Article 90 of the draft Law.
Article 54 of the draft Law stipulates the toll for using expressways
1. The state shall collect tolls for using expressways for vehicles traveling on expressways invested, owned, managed and exploited by the state, including:
Expressways invested by the state in the form of public investment;
Expressways invested by the state in other forms when the contract ends, transferred to the state.
2. Manage and use the revenue from tolls for using expressways as follows:
The road management unit directly organizes the exploitation of assets and submits the amount of revenue collected to the state budget as prescribed by the laws on fees and charges;
Organizations receiving toll collection rights, business transfer rights – management shall submit the amount of rights transferred as prescribed into the state budget, the amount of tolls collected during the implementation of the transfer contract shall not be submitted to the state budget, except for the revenue to be shared with the state as prescribed by the law.
The Government shall stipulate the toll rate, the toll management regime for vehicles traveling on expressways invested, owned, managed and exploited by the state, the division of revenue from tolls for using expressways according to the capital contribution ratio for projects jointly invested by the central budget. and local budgets.
