Charging Tolls on 5 State-Invested Highways: What You Need to Know

These are 5 out of 11 component projects of the project “Construction of several North-South expressway sections in the Eastern region for the 2017–2020 period using public investment capital,” which were consecutively completed and put into operation by the Ministry of Construction in the period of 2022–2023.

Previously, on October 10, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 130/2024/ND-CP stipulating the toll collection for the use of expressways for vehicles circulating on the expressways owned by the whole people and directly managed and operated by the State (hereinafter referred to as toll collection for the use of expressways), which took effect from the signing date.

This decree provides detailed regulations on the conditions for implementing toll collection for expressway use, subjects of toll payment and payers; agencies in charge of toll collection, payment service providers for road use charges, toll collection operators, agencies granting toll collection rights, and organizations receiving toll collection rights for expressway use; tolls and toll rates for expressway use under the management of the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction).

Apart from determining the first five tolled expressway routes invested by the State, there were two other important contents mentioned in Decision No. 496.

Firstly, the selected exploitation method is that the asset management agency (Vietnam Road Administration) directly organizes the exploitation of transport infrastructure assets.

Secondly, the exploitation duration for the five expressways mentioned in Decision No. 496 is seven years from the commencement of toll collection for expressway use.

In the Report on approving the Proposal for Exploitation of Transport Infrastructure Assets of Mai Son – National Highway 45, National Highway 45 – Nghi Son, Nghi Son – Dien Chau, Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet, and Phan Thiet – Dau Day Expressway, the Vietnam Road Administration evaluated that the selected exploitation method – the asset management agency directly organizing the exploitation of transport infrastructure assets – is the optimal option in the current conditions.

This method has the advantage of being suitable for the functions and tasks of the agencies that are directly assigned to manage and exploit the assets; it can be implemented immediately without generating additional organizations or personnel; and the process of managing and exploiting assets is continuous without interruption.

Moreover, the selected exploitation method is expected to generate toll revenue for the state budget annually; the revenue to the state budget over the years is relatively stable; and it allows the State to flexibly adjust toll rates in accordance with the socio-economic development policy of each period. However, the state budget will not immediately have a lump sum of money, but the revenue will be maintained and gradually supplemented annually.