After three illegal road tolls on Thang Long-Noi Bai highway were brought to light, the Transportation Ministry has asked the Vietnam Road Administration to check on all road tolls.

The Ministry told the Vietnam Road Administration to keep to using existing stations, rather than set up new ones. Meanwhile, Toll stations that are located not far from each other must be combined into one.

Toll stations are now set for an overhaul with an increased use of technology to prevent corruption.

The Vietnam Road Administration was also asked to work on toll station planning for 2020-2030.

In late October, the Hanoi Transport Inspectorate asked four road toll stations along the Thang Long – Noi Bai highways to stop operating because they could not demonstrate that they had a licence. Eventually, on November 9, the Vietnam Road Administration admitted that three out of five toll stations on this road worked without a license. These station collected up to 532 billion dong ($31.3 million) of road toll.

In HCM City, hundreds of container trucks and trucks lined up on the Hanoi Highway to protest at road toll collections, causing traffic jams for hours.

On the sidelines of the ongoing National Assembly session, Minister of Transportation Ho Nghia Dung confirmed problems at toll stations. He agreed with the police’s investigation of toll collection at stations on the Thang Long – Noi Bai highway.

There are 57 toll stations in the country, including 36 run by the Vietnam Road Administration and 12 by road investors.

VietNamNet/VNE