[sustran] Re: Is Asia moving in the direction of restricting the use of private cars?

[Cornie Huizenga]

Dear All,

Here is some additional detail on the proposal I mentioned some time ago.

Cornie



*
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/society/20253/transport-minister-proposes-higher-fees-on-personal-vehicles.html
*



Transport Minister proposes higher fees on personal vehicles

*VietNamNet Bridge – While the “personal vehicle circulation fee” is still
a controversy, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has suggested calling it
as “personal vehicle restriction fee” and to raise the fee by five percent
per annum.*

Huge cost for owning a car in Vietnam
<http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/20224/huge-cost-for-owning-a-car-in-vietnam.html>

 The suggestion is mentioned in a Ministry of Transport’s report on traffic
fees, recently sent to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The Ministry also proposes to not impose this fee on public, army and
diplomatic cars.

The fee on cars will be collected by vehicle inspection centers. The fee on
motorbikes will be collected six months later than cars and this task will
be assigned to local governments.

In its report to the government last November, the Ministry of Transport
proposed the government to impose personal vehicle circulation fee on cars
and motorbikes in the five biggest cities in Vietnam, including Hanoi, HCM
City, Da Nang, Can Tho and Hai Phong.

Cars with less than 9 seats will pay a traffic fee of VND20 million – 50
million ($1,000-2,500) per year, depending on their cylinder capacities.
Meanwhile, motorbike users will pay a fee of VND500,000-1 million ($25-50).

In addition to these annual fees, drivers of cars with up to seven seats
entering the central areas of cities during rush hours (6-8.30am and 4-7pm
every day, except Saturdays and Sundays) will pay a charge of VND30,000
($1.5) per entry, and for cars of other kinds, the charge will be VND50,000
($2.5). Government cars and buses will be exempted from the fee. Municipal
authorities will define the areas and the fees.

However, many experts said such a fee would only help increase the State
budget’s revenue while failing to reduce the use of personal vehicles.

Meanwhile, as of June 1, 2012, vehicle owners will have to pay a new kind
of fee, called road maintenance fee. Under the Ministry of Transport’s
suggestion, it will be VND180,000-VND1.44 million/car/month and
VND80,000-150,000/motorbike/year



*
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/20224/huge-cost-for-owning-a-car-in-vietnam.html
*

Huge cost for owning a car in Vietnam

*VietNamNet Bridge – No place in the world like Vietnam--where people have
to pay three kinds of taxes and seven types of fees to use a car.
*

*
*

**As a result, car prices in Vietnam, a developing country, are around 2.5
folds higher than that in the USA.

To import a brand-new five-seat car into Vietnam, one must pay three kinds
of taxes: import tax (82 percent), luxury tax (30 percent for car of over
five seats and 50 percent for cars of five seats downwards) and value added
tax (10 percent).

Let’s do a calculation with an imported Hyundai SantaFe. If the price of
this car is $23,000 in the USA, when it comes to Vietnam, its price will
be: $23,000 + imported tax of $18,860 + luxury tax of $20,930 + VAT of
$6,280 = $69,000. The total taxes for this car are up to $46,070.

Users will also have to pay up to seven types of fees, as of June 1, 2012,
when the fee for road maintenance takes effect, including: registration
fee, number plate fee, inspection fee, insurance, gas fee, road maintenance
fee and the fee for stabilization fund.

In addition, if the Ministry of Transport’s proposal to collect the
circulation fee and the fee to get into the downtown of big cities are
approved, car users will have to pay more.

If one buys an imported SantaFe and he lives in Hanoi, this man will have
to pay $13,800 of registration fee (20 percent), VND20 million ($1,000) for
the license plate, plus VND5.4 million ($260) for inspection fee for 30
months, VND180,000 ($9) of road maintenance fee per month.

If the circulation fee is approved, this man will have to pay an additional
VND75 million ($3,300) for 2.5 years (VND30 million or $1,500/year) in the
first car inspection.

In total, this man will have to pay $83,000 (both taxes and fees) to run
this car while it is priced only $23,000 in the USA and American have to
pay a total of $35,000 to run the car.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam’s per capita
income was $1,300 in 2011. Meanwhile, the figure was $47,084 for American.
The dream of having a car is getting very far for most of Vietnamese.

That is only the initial investment in that car. To “maintain” it in
Vietnam, it is also a big problem.

As the gas price is rising, one will have to pay around VND4.5 million
($220) for gas if he runs 2,000km per month and around VND2-3 million
($100-150) for parking fees. If the circulation fee is imposed, he will
have to pay and additional of VND2.5 million ($110) per month. The total
spending for a car is estimated at nearly VND10 million ($500) per month.

The advice of experts for Vietnamese is: if you earn at least VND50 million
($2,500) per month in Vietnam, you should buy a car.

How many percentage of Vietnamese people who earn at least VND50 million a
month to be able to “maintain” a car?

Let’s share your comments with us through evnn at vietnamnet.vn.

*Duc The*




On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Cornie Huizenga <
cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I came across the following news article on Viet Nam:
>
> Vietnamese  *Deputy PM advocates restricted use of private vehicles*
> 15 Mar, 2012
> Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Traffic
> Safety Committee, on Thursday instructed the Ministries of Finance and
> Transport to submit a proposal that will restrict use of privately owned
> vehicles by increasing toll fee, in a move to restore more traffic order
> and safety in Ho Chi Minh City.
> On Thursday afternoon, Deputy PM Phuc, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang
> and representatives from other relevant departments and ministries met with
> City leaders to find ways to improve traffic safety and curb congestion.
>
> http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2012/03/deputy-pm-advocates-restricted-use-of-private-vehicles.html
>
> For me this fits in quite well with a recent insight that I had on the
> manner in which thinking on sustainable transport is developing in the
> Asian region.  I see three main phases in the way that governments are
> approaching transport planning: (1) built your way out of construction -
> under this approach national and city governments resort to massive
> construction programs - e.g. the 6 ring roads in Beijing, (2) when the
> first approach does not solve congestion problems governments invest in
> massive expansion of public transport, (metro, BRT, etc) and put in place
> temporary restrictions on use of cars based on plate numbers, and (3) once
> the first two methods are not working consider limiting the growth of
> vehicles (e.g Shanghai and Beijing) or the use of vehicles through
> congestion charges, urban road tolling etc.   My impression/expectation is
> that we will see more of the third approach in Asia in the coming years.
> It is interesting so far that it is governments who are in the lead on this
> and that this is not the result from extensive lobbying from international
> NGOs or development organizations who still are focused largely on phase 2
> - the creation of alternative public and NMT transport infrastructure and
> services.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Cornie
>
>
> --
> Cornie Huizenga
> Joint Convener
> Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
> Mobile: +86 13901949332
> cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
> www.slocat.net
>



-- 
Cornie Huizenga
Joint Convener
Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
Mobile: +86 13901949332
cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
www.slocat.net