Necessary but should have a roadmap?

According to the HCM City Inland Waterway Authority, during April 1-12, the unit collected VND 90 billion from a system of 15 seaports in the city. It is expected that by the end of this year, the city will collect 3,036 billion VND, an average of 8.32 billion VND per day. Thus, the actual average amount of fees collected per day is close to the previous estimate.

Collecting reinvestment fees in the context of overloaded seaport infrastructure

Regarding the process of collecting seaport infrastructure fees in Ho Chi Minh City, the fee payers only need to declare online, the port fee collection system will automatically notify the fee that businesses have to pay. After the enterprise has paid the fee, the electronic receipt will be automatically shared through the port system. When the customer has completed paying the prescribed fees, the staff will open the gate for the car to come in and out.

In case the enterprise has made a declaration of toll collection but has not yet paid the fee, the truck will still go to the port normally. Customs and port authorities will conduct a check and send notices of unpaid fees to businesses. The above handling does not affect the transport of goods in and out of the port.

According to the Department of Transport, by 2025, the revenue from seaport infrastructure fees is expected to reach about VND 16,000 billion. After deducting a part to the toll collection unit, the entire revenue will be used for new investment, reinvestment, and development of the transport infrastructure system in and out of the seaport, in order to solve the problem of traffic jams in traffic conditions. suing the city to face difficulties in public investment capital, after the Covid-19 epidemic.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Cargo Transport Association, the city has the leading seaport system and volume of goods in circulation in the country, with a customs clearance volume of 170 million tons/year, an average growth rate of about 8%. . However, the transport system connecting the ports is being evaluated as the worst, due to many wasted factors. The current transport infrastructure system is both overloaded and unable to meet the increasing transport capacity, causing congestion, traffic insecurity, and huge waste for the freight transport industry. inhibit the growth of the City.

At the same time, the lack of specialized warehouses, the lack of means of transportation, the lack of concentration for each industry also limit the available capacity of the city.

The collection of seaport infrastructure fees from April 1 is considered a solution to generate revenue from which to restructure, build infrastructure and develop port traffic, bringing a worthy competitive advantage to the seaport area. Ho Chi Minh City.

Projects to connect transport infrastructure in the seaport area are expected to have a total investment of about 93,247 billion VND in the period 2020-2030. Thus, revenue from seaport infrastructure only partially meets the city’s investment needs.

Considering the fee schedule?

Experts and businesses believe that in the long run, collecting fees for infrastructure reinvestment is the right policy. However, in the context that the production and business activities of most businesses are still facing many difficulties after 2 years of the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, plus input production costs such as rising gasoline prices should be considered. consider, calculate the route accordingly or reduce as much as possible.

Le Duy Hiep, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Logistics Service Enterprises, said that businesses in general and the logistics industry in particular have suffered significant damage after the Covid-19 epidemic. Currently the business is in the recovery process and is trying to recover. The recent collection of seaport infrastructure fees for goods plus high input production costs is slowing down the recovery process of enterprises.

Early last month, 7 industry associations including the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) also had a collective petition sent to the Government Office, the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform and The People’s Council and People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City proposed not to collect fees for seaport infrastructure in the city.

7 associations said that the lowest fee of 15,000 VND/ton for goods not packed in containers (import and export declarations are opened in Ho Chi Minh City) and the highest fee of 4.4 million VND per 40-foot container (temporarily imported for re-export). , bonded warehouse, border-gate transfer), is quite high. Meanwhile, the application time is not suitable.

Recently, businesses in Ho Chi Minh City in particular and neighboring localities in general have had to stop or operate in moderation because of the epidemic. Meanwhile, businesses still have to pay many things such as salaries for accreditation, interest on bank loans, inventory costs, storage … due to not exporting, or not being able to sell goods. In the context of many difficulties, 7 industry associations have proposed not to collect seaport infrastructure fees in Ho Chi Minh City until the end of December 31 this year, to create conditions for businesses to cut costs. costs, restore production and business.

Mr. Hiep also agreed and said that this year the port infrastructure fee in Ho Chi Minh City should be waived and proposed to collect 50% of the fee next year, thus helping businesses partly in this recovery process.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan, Director of Blue Sea Commercial Shipping Co., Ltd – the main unit operating in the field of transportation, shipping agency services, shipping agents… also agreed with the policy on For the long-term, but for now, it is advisable to postpone or reduce costs as much as possible so that enterprises can resume production after the epidemic.

In addition, another issue of concern is the collection and use of seaport infrastructure revenues to ensure transparency and reasonableness. Mr. Bui Van Quan, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Cargo Transport Association, said that revenue from seaport infrastructure must be used to invest in roads entering the port, meeting the clearance of goods for the port, exporters can reduce costs. transport fee. When seeing such effects, enterprises and exporters are willing to pay fees.

Ngoc Ha