Le Anh
Statistics of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam show that 837 workers of the removed stations have not yet been placed in other positions. Some VND40.8 billion was expected to be spent on supporting these employees but only half of the road maintenance fund has been disbursed.
The Ministry of Finance has regulated that allowances for employees of the removed toll stations will be funded by the unemployment reserve funds of enterprises, the national fund for enterprise arrangement support and the road maintenance fund.
Central Road Maintenance Fund’s office chief Le Hoang Minh told the Daily that the fund has disbursed over VND20 billion to pay unemployment allowances for these toll station workers. This is one of nine spending areas of the fund.
Relevant agencies and ministries discussed and reached agreement on unemployment allowance payments for these workers before the toll stations were removed. The Government also gave approval to the road maintenance fund to pay allowances, Minh said.
Concerning expenditure of the fund, Thai Van Chung, general secretary of the HCMC Goods Transport Association, said that it is unfair if the fund gives allowances to employees of some toll stations but those at other stations do not receive benefits. It is necessary to publicize spending of the fund, especially expenditure for the operation mechanism from the central to grassroots levels.
Do Xuan Phu, director of Minh Lien Transport Company, was concerned that the fund has been used for too many purposes. While calling for people and enterprises to pay road use fees, the Ministry of Transport has insisted that the only purpose of the fund is to maintain roads in the country.
According to the Central Road Maintenance Fund, car owners paid over VND2.7 trillion worth of road maintenance fees as of July 1. The Ministry of Finance has also given VND375 billion to the fund.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
