A view of Hai Phong Port (Photo: baocongthuong.com.vn)
Hanoi (VNA)
– Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has asked the Ministry of Finance and
Hai Phong city to strictly follow the PM’s instruction on reviewing fees for
using infrastructure, service facilities and public utilities at ports in the
city.
The Government Office
has sent Document 9014/VPCP–KTTH to the city’s People’s Committee to
convey the Prime Minister’s instruction on the issue. The previous document
from the Government in May said adjustments in
fees were needed to ensure they are reasonable, comply with the law and create
favourable conditions for import and export firms, as per Government
resolutions on improving the business climate.
The document was sent
right after the municipal Hai An district People’s Committee required
businesses that have imported and exported goods through the city’s ports to
pay fee from the beginning of the year to quickly complete the payment. The
deadline is September 15.
The announcement
by Hai An district also said if firms did not pay the fee by the deadline,
they would be subject to administrative penalties stipulated under Decree
109/2013/NĐ-CP, dated September 24, 2013, on price management, fees and
invoices.
The district also said
they would apply coercive measures on companies that did not follow the
announcement.
“Customs units, bonded
port and warehouse trading firms in Hai Phong will not allow import-export
goods through their seaports if companies do not pay the fee,” the announcement
said.
The district said
most businesses have executed the resolution that
came into effect from the beginning of this year, regulating fees for
construction, infrastructure, service buildings and public utilities at ports.
However, there were some companies that had not paid the fee.
Under the
resolution, individuals and organisations that have shipments stored at
bonded warehouses must pay 2.2 million VND (97 USD) to 4.8 million VND (220
USD) per container, an increase of nearly 70 percent from the previous fee.
The municipal People’s
Committee said fee collection was legal and suitable with the current laws. In
addition, the fee is half of that collected at the Lao Cai border gate, it
said.
Businesses, meanwhile,
expressed their disagreement with the city’s resolution,
saying the fees were unreasonably high and undermined
their competitiveness.
The Vietnam Private
Sector Forum (VPSF) has proposed the municipal people’s committees conduct
direct dialogues with businesses and associations to collect their ideas on the
issue. In addition, associations also sent several documents to the Government
to resolve the problem.
Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy,
VPSF’s deputy general secretary, said the short
duration between the resolution’s promulgation and it coming into effect has
made businesses passive, as all issues, including contract and price for the
whole year, were negotiated and signed beforehand. The fee could make their
export products’ prices higher, causing losses for businesses.
Chairman of the Vietnam
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc said the resolution could
be a dangerous precedent for other localities which have seaports and airports
to collect fees in the future, creating disadvantages for the country’s export
activities.
Hai Phong Port is
the second-largest port in Vietnam with one third of total cargo passing
through it.-VNA