The National Road Maintenance Fund is expected to come from vehicle registration and the State budget. — Photo laodong.com.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub)  — The National Road Maintenance Fund needed more than VND7 trillion (US$332 million) to repair and upgrade roads this year, Chief of the fund's Central Council Le Hoang Minh has said.

Of this amount, VND4.6 trillion ($218 million) is expected to come from vehicle registrations. The rest will be provided by the State budget.

Figures from the council show that more than VND1 trillion ($47 million) was collected from registration stations nationwide in the first three months of this year, accounting for 23.5 per cent of the estimated amount for the whole year.

Nearly VND5.4 trillion ($256 million), which will account for 65 per cent of the fund, will be spent on managing and upgrading national highways. The rest will be allocated to provinces and cities to help them maintain and upgrade roads.

Out of the nation's 63 cities and provinces, 62 have set up their own road maintenance funds and 47 have councils to manage the funds.

Last year, the National Road Maintenance Fund, which was established in 2012, collected nearly VND7 trillion.

It spent VND6.4 trillion ($303 million) on regular road maintenance and management, buying toll collection rights for a toll station on National Highway No.1 and establishing mobile truck weighing stations.

Statistics from the Ministry of Transport last year showed that there were more than 37 million motorbikes and two million cars in Viet Nam. The Government hopes to reduce the number of motorbikes to 36 million by 2020.

The amount of road maintenance fees vehicle owners are required to pay is decided by provincial and municipal People's Committees. — VNS