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| A long queue of cars in front of a toll station on the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway. Toll booths nationwide will be fined if drivers have to wait too long, beginning August 1. — Photo vnexpress.net |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Toll booths across the country that force drivers to suffer through long delays will face fines starting August 1.
The fines are called for in a new decree, number 46/2016/NĐ-CP, specifying administrative fines on roads and railways and issued by the Government last month.
Accordingly, toll booths will be subjected to a punishment of VNĐ8-10 million (US$350-450) if 100 to 150 cars are in line waiting to pay their tolls, or the queue reaches 750 to 1,000 metres long. The punishment will also be enforced if drivers report they have to wait ten to twenty minutes to pay tolls.
In case the line of vehicles is more than 2km long, or there are more than 200 vehicles lined up or the waiting time is over thirty minutes, the highest penalty of VNĐ30-40 million ($1,350-1,800) will be collected from the toll both management board.
The fining of toll collectors aims to reduce traffic jams at toll booths on many routes, especially those which are heavily used in Việt Nam.
Despite having taken several measures, such as investments in road expansions, opening more gates to collect fees or mobilising more workers at toll booths, the situation does not seem to have improved.
Further, manual fee collections might longer be feasible, since the number of vehicles travelling on highways has significantly increased.
Transportation experts suggested installing non-stop toll systems or electronic toll collection (ETC) systems to help end delays and reduce costs.
The transport ministry plans to install ETCs at all toll booths nationwide starting in 2020.
ETCs have been installed at three toll stations, in Quảng Bình, Nghệ An and Đắk Lắk provinces, on a trial basis. — VNS
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