Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Transport plans to install e-tags on 3.2million motorised vehicles by the year-end in a bid to conduct electronic tollcollection (ETC) at build-operate-transfer (BOT) stations in 2019.

The moves came following Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc’s instruction on speeding up the implementation of ETC systems at BOTstations across the country.

The application of the ETC system at BOT tollstations nationwide by 2019 will help vehicle owners save time, energy andmachine depreciation as they do not have to stop at the toll booths. It alsoenhances the transparency in BOT projects. However, it is not easy to realisethe ministry’s roadmap.

Despite the fact that the ETC system waslaunched in Vietnam in 2016, only 17 stations have so far been equipped withthe new technology and put in use on National Highway 1 and Ho Chi MinhHighway. In addition, the number of people who use the technology were few.

For example, every day, BOT Hoang Mai tollstation in the central province of Nghe An collects about 890 million VND(39,000 USD) but the toll collection through ETC system is about 60 million VND(2,630 USD), accounting for only 7 percent of the total sum.

It is estimated that e-tags have been stuck onmore than 400,000 vehicles across the country.

According to the Ministry of Transport, therewere some reasons for the delay in application of ETC nationwide.

A number of investors under the BOT model do notwant to install ETC for the fear of the lack of transparency in selecting ETCservice providers.

Surveys conducted at a vehicle registrationstation showed that many vehicle owners were unaware about the service.

Le Tien Khanh, chairman of Phu Tho AutomobileAssociation, blamed the low progress of ETC deployment on the fact that thesystem did not work at all stations and since there was so little informationabout it, drivers still use tickets.

Once the system was implemented at all stations,drivers would comply with it, he said.

In order to fulfil the designed roadmap,the Ministry of Transport said it would ask BOT toll stations toinstall ETC on all lanes instead of one or two lanes as currently.

The ministry would work with automobileproducers and distributors as well as relevant agencies to ensure that e-tagswould be stuck on all vehicles. In addition, a dissemination campaign would belaunched to convince people to use the service.

The ministry said it was hastening procedures toensure there would be more ETC service providers in the coming months.

Earlier, at meetings between BOT and ETCinvestors, some BOT investors said that they supported the initiative on theapplication of ETC but they refused to sign a contract with VETC joint stockcompany which has been assigned the task of developing and launching the ETCsystem because it was the only company providing the service and the feecharged was too high.-VNA