LookAtVietnam – Garbage collection fees in HCM City will go up from May 1, according to a senior official.

Cleaners collect waste in inner HCM City.

The new garbage collection fees will range from VND10,000 per month to VND176,800 (US$10) per cubic metre.

Tin said the increase was necessary because the city had been spending more than VND1,000 billion (US$57 million) on collecting, transporting and treating waste every year and the amount of waste generated in the city was increasing considerably.

Nguyen Van Phuoc, deputy director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the increase aimed to partially or fully meet the expenses incurred in waste management.

The department said there were many problems in collecting fees for garbage clearance and there was still no consensus on fees charged by public service companies and private garbage collectors.

This led to unreasonable disparities in garbage fee collection between households and residential areas, with those producing less waste having to pay the same fee as those producing a lot more.

Improper fee collection by governmental agencies had caused big losses to the city budget. As a result, classifying customers to impose different fee levels and reorganising fee collection was very necessary, the department said.

The city administration has approved the department’s proposal that households are charged between VND10,000 to VND20,000 per month, depending on the location of their houses.

Depending on specific conditions, districts can allow fee collection agencies to retain 5 to 10 per cent of total fees and transfer the remaining funds to the State budget.

However, many districts are still uncertain about managing private garbage collectors and classifying customers fairly.

A representative of District 10 said that half of its garbage was collected by private collectors who charged fees from households but did not pay any money for waste transport and treatment. Managing them was not easy, he said.

A representative of Tan Phu District said that it was necessary to classify businesses as well because some did not produce waste, like clothing stores or mobile phone shops, which should be charged less.

After implementating the new rates for three months, the will city meet with districts to review the measures and make more appropriate changes.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News