Expressway investor driven to take action over missing toll revenue

By Doan Lan   May 6, 2016 | 04:50 am PT
One of the investors in the Phap Van – Cau Gie expressway suspects that daily tolls of about VND1.2 billion ($54,000) do not reflect the number of vehicles using the road.

According to a press release issued on May 5, the Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (Cienco1) evaluated that fees collected on the crucial southern expressway are too low.

The average toll revenue on the busy road is only VND36 billion ($1.6 million) per month, and even fell below that figure during the Tet holidays, one of the busiest times of year.

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A surveilance system installed by the shareholder is covered up. Photo by VnExpress

Cienco1’s deputy director Dinh Ngoc Dan said that since January this year,  BOT Phap Van – Cau Gie JSC (MPC) has refused to provide details of toll collections or requests to establish an independent team to jointly supervise toll collection.

To supervise the expressway, Cienco1 signed a contract with Frontier Solution Ltd. Company to install surveillance systems worth VND7.5 billion (over $300,000), but the MPC has frequently covered the cameras using trucks or signs.

Cienco1 said that toll collections are not transparent. “Cienco1's investment in surveillance cameras was meant to help us monitor toll collections and ease shareholders' fears,” he said.

MPC's general director Nguyen Thi Cam Tu indicated that the surveillance system interfered with the company’s operations and was not in line with its rights stipulated in the Company’s Charter and Law on Enterprises.

In the latest official letter to the Ministry of Transport and the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN), Cienco1 asked authorities to clarify the toll drain on the Phap Van – Cau Gie expressway.

A representative from the directorate told VnExpress on May 5 that the conflict is an internal matter which needs to be solved following the Law on Enterprises. Inspectors from the DRVN will be sent to supervise toll collections.

The 29-kilometer Phap Van – Cau Gie expressway started collecting tolls on October 6, 2015.

Cienco1 is one of the three founding shareholders of the MPC with investment of VND148 billion (nearly $7 million), making up 18 percent of the venture's charter capital.

 
 
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