A company has proposed that the Ministry of Transport allow it to become the investor of a project for electronic toll collection and control of vehicle loads nationwide that is being piloted in central Vietnam, Vietnamese media said. 

>> Vietnam piloting electronic toll collection for vehicles Hanoi-based Tasco Joint Stock Company, which was allowed to pilot the project, had told the ministry that it would like to become the investor of the project to apply the electronic toll collection (ETC) method for vehicles and strengthen control over vehicle’s loads, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The project will need a total investment of VND1,480 billion (US$68.7 million) and will operate in the form of BOO (Build-Own-Operate), Tasco said.

This project aims to modernize transport infrastructure, improve toll collection to serve the development of transport infrastructure, eliminate congestion at the toll-collection stations, save costs for people in traffic, make toll revenue sources transparent, strengthen control over vehicle loads and overloaded vehicles, and help concerned agencies improve their management over vehicles in traffic  

Vu Quang Lam, Tasco general director, said that the project, with more than 100 ETC stations set up nationwide, will create great social and economic benefits.

Tasco will implement the project in two phases, with Phase 1 from 2015-2016 and Phase 2 from 2017-2018, Lam said.

At a press briefing held by the ministry in Hanoi on March 10, Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Hong Truong said the ETC method is being piloted at three locations in central Vietnam before it can be applied nationwide

The ministry has chosen Tasco Joint Stock Company, the investor of the project to build ETC stations, and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam as its two partners in piloting the system.

The ETC is based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology that is broadly applied around the world, Truong said, adding that it refers to a wireless system comprised of two components: tags and readers.

In order to pay a toll through an ETC system, automobile owners will be granted an E-tag card free of charge, along with a toll payment account, Deputy Minister Truong said.

These cards are required to be placed on the front windshield of an automobile, and when the vehicle passes a toll collection lane, the RFID system installed at the toll station will activate a camera to photograph the vehicle’s number plate while reading the R-tag cards.

If the vehicle owner’s account is sufficient to pay for the toll, it will be deducted from the account and a text massage will be sent to the account holder’s mobile phone.

If the account does not have enough money for the toll, drivers will be required to pay in cash and receive a voucher, as in traditional toll collection, Truong said.  

With the new method, the toll will be collected automatically while the driver does not need to stop to pay, the official said.

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