Garbage fees in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to gradually increase until 2022, as part of local authorities’ plan to raise the maximum cost of garbage pickup and transport services.

Deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen has recently signed a decision to increase the fees of services relating to household waste.

According to the new regulation, residents will have to pay a much bigger amount of money for garbage-related services compared to the current cost.

However, local authorities have decided to gradually raise the fees over several phases from 2018 to 2022.

The decision will take effect on November 1, but it is still unclear when the new rates will be actually applied.

The current Decision No. 88 of the city’s administration states that households along local streets are required to pay a fixed VND20,000 (US$0.86) per month, while those in alleys need to spend VND15,000 ($0.64) a month.

The new regulation, however, sets a detailed outline of three different fees, pickup, transport, and treatment, that make up the final garbage cost city-dwellers have to pay.

Pickup services will be charged at VND364 ($0.016) per kilogram.

Treatment cost is at VND475 ($0.02) per kilogram, but it is only applied from 2022 onward.

Transport fees will rise from VND40 ($0.0017) per kilogram in 2018 and 2019, to VND133.5 ($0.0057) in 2020, VND227 ($0.0097) in 2021, and finally VND247 ($0.011) in 2022.

According to the new scheme, each household is expected to pay a maximum of VND48,480 ($2.08) a month for garbage-related services in the 2018-19 period.

The municipal administration noted that the amount is the maximum fee that one family needs to pay.

The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Finance will coordinate with district-level authorities to determine the specific cost for each household.

One of the proposed methods is to decide on the average amount of garbage for each household based on the number of members, a representative from the environmental department stated.

A family of five, for example, dumpsre four kilograms of trash per day, or 120 kilograms a month, on average, he elaborated.

While many citizens are still confused by the new regulation, others have expressed their support, hoping that the higher fee will help improve the quality of such services.

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