The Việt Nam Road Administration has decided to conduct inspections and apply closer supervision of toll collection and turnover at two more toll stations managed and operated by Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) investors. — Photo daibieunhandan.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Road Administration has decided to conduct inspections and apply closer supervision of toll collection and turnover at two more toll stations managed and operated by Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) investors.

The stations to be inspected are the Bắc Hải Vân toll booth operated by Phước Tượng Phú Gia Joint Stock Company and the Km1841+912 toll station, located on Highway No.1 in southern Đồng Nai Province, operated by Đồng Thuận Joint Stock Company, both are key tolls in the central and southern region.

The Economic Criminal Department under the Ministry of Public Security will work with the Việt Nam Road Administration and local taxation agencies to conduct the inspection in 10 days.

The Việt Nam Road Administration has assigned heads of road management departments II and IV to establish and lead inspection teams, which will include public servants from these departments.

BOT investors are responsible for ensuring order and safety at the stations during the inspection.

Nguyễn Xuân Cường, deputy head of the Việt Nam Road Administration, said the inspection and supervision initiatives aimed to assess the toll booths’ turnover and to review the efficiency of toll collection technological systems. Based on the practical situation, the administration will propose that relevant management agencies address any shortcomings and will impose penalties to promote toll collection transparency.

The Bắc Hải Vân toll station was put into operation on August 12, 2016. The toll collection is currently VNĐ35,000 (US$1.6) per ticket per entry at minimum and VNĐ180,000 ($3.6) per ticket per entry at maximum. This is the first payback BOT project in the central region to reduce fees by VNĐ20,000 ($0.9) per ticket per entry for large trucks.

The Km1841+912 toll station in Đồng Nai Province started its collection on July 6, 2014. The fare ranges from VNĐ20,000 to VNĐ160,000 ($7.1) per ticket per entry

Previously, the administration inspected 18 of the 60 BOT toll stations nationwide. The agency will inspect the remaining stations in the future.

Past inspections uncovered several violations in the toll collection processes of several investors.

During the 10-day inspection in December last year, the Việt Nam Road Administration found that the average toll earnings, depending on the number of times the money was collected at the Hà Nội-Bắc Giang station each day, was VNĐ84 million ($3,700) higher than the amount reported by the investor.

The toll collected was VNĐ1.099 billion ($48,800) per day, compared to reported earnings of only VNĐ1.015 ($45,100) billion.

The 10-day inspection at Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ toll station last year also revealed actual earnings of nearly VNĐ2 billion ($88,900) from the daily toll collection on average, instead of only VNĐ1.2 billion ($53,000) as reported by one of its shareholders, the Civil Engineering Construction Corportation 1. — VNS