(VNF)- The Central Council of the Road Maintenance Fund has proposed that the government stop collecting annual road maintenance fees as of January 1, 2016.

The proposition is made based on the inefficiency of the fee collection over the past two years.

It was included in a report sent to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung by Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang, chair of the council.

The annual revenue of the fee in 2013 and 2014 made up only 21 percent of the annual plan, according to the report.

“In the first six months of this year, the fee revenue sharply dropped compared to the same periods of the past many years, and constituted only 6.71 percent of this year’s target,” the report pointed out.

Under the Government Decree 18/2012, the people’s committees of wards, communes and towns are tasked with arranging the fee collection, but they have performed the task inconsistently and ineffectively, Minister Thang said.

Moreover, sanctions and penalties on fee evaders have proved difficult to manage, the minister added.

Currently, while most provinces and cities have been performed the fee collection, some others have ceased their collection, and Ho Chi Minh City has still delayed the collection, Minister Thang said.

Such a situation has brought about unfairness among fee payers and triggered undesirable public opinion, he added.

The Central Council of the Road Maintenance Fund thus suggested that Prime Minister Dung task the Ministry of Transport with working with its finance counterpart and other competent agencies to make amendments to Decree 18 and drop the fee.

The fee collection is stipulated in Government Decree 18/2012 dated March 13, 2012 regarding the establishment, management and use of the Road Maintenance Fund.

Based on the decree, the Ministry of Finance released a circular to impose two fee ranges, including the VND50,000-100,000 ($2.3-4.6) range per year for electric bicycles and motorbikes with an engine capacity of 50 - 100 cubic centimeters (cc), and the VND100,000-150,000 range per year for those with engine sizes of over 100 cc.

People’s councils in provinces and cities fix their own rates based on these ranges as long as the rates fit their social and economic conditions./.

by VNF