Hà Nội-Bắc Giang Expressway has two lanes of non-stop toll collection and started the system in 2017. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has ordered toll booths nationwide to switch to automated non-stop toll collection no later than December 31 this year.

Toll booths will be suspended if they have already installed non-stop system but have not switched to automated collection by the end of this year, he said in a recently-issued decision which will take effect from August 1.

In order to pay a toll through the automated system, automobile owners will be granted free e-tags before December 31.

Owners will have to pay service fees for e-tags from December 31.

The tags are required to be placed on the front window of the automobile, and when the vehicle passes a toll collection lane, a Radio Frequency Identification system installed at the toll station will activate a camera to photograph the vehicle’s plate number while reading the e-tag.

The e-tags will be issued by vehicle registration centres or service providers' authorised branches.

The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence shall co-ordinate with the Ministry of Transport and service providers to issue e-tags for vehicles in the fields of security and defence.

Automobile owners can pay the fee directly at the bank, through their bank accounts or choose other types of payment.

Depending on the conditions of each toll booth, State agencies are granted authority to maintain one mixed lane, apply for both non-stop and one-stop toll collection and decide the time when one-stop collection will be switched to non-stop.

In case automobile owners do not have enough money in their accounts to pay for non-stop collection, they can move to the mixed lane and pay through the one-stop collection system.

The service providers will hand over the toll to investors after expenses on non-stop fee collection are cleared. Each handover should not be more than 24 hours apart, except for special negotiations.

The investors and service providers have to obey the laws on paying taxes. 

PM Phúc asked for efficiency, openness and transparency in automated non-stop fee collection at toll booths with payback periods of less than three years.

According to the PM’s new decision, the automated non-stop toll collection system must be designed, installed and built in a synchronous manner throughout the country, ensuring rapid, accurate, efficient and safe operation.

Investors are allowed to design, invest in construction as well as renovate, maintain the system at toll booths to connect them with data centres of service providers.

The investment and maintenance must be approved by State agencies. — VNS