HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The CustomsBureau of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed that city authorities collectinfrastructure fees at seaports to increase revenue for the city.

During a recent meeting with the HCM City PartyCommittee, chief of the HCM City Customs Bureau Dinh Ngoc Thang asked the municipalPeople’s Committee to collect fees for use of infrastructure facilitiesand public services at seaport terminals for import-export activities.

HCM City has invested large sums from theState budget every year for transportation networks, infrastructurefacilities and public service facilities at or near seaport terminalsthat serve import-export activities.

As the State budget is used for many otherworks, fees from individuals and agencies using public facilities for import-exportactivities would help increase the city’s revenues and ease pressure onthe State budget, according to Thang.

According to figures from the Associationof Vietnam Seaports, HCM City seaports throughput last year reached 6million TEUs, and Hai Phong seaports throughput 2 million TEUs.

The northern port city of Hai Phongcollects fees at its ports. Its People’s Council saidthat infrastructure fees from Hai Phong Seaport amounted to 1,295billion VND (about 56 million USD) in 2018.  

Thang said thateven with infrastructure fees half the level collected at Hai PhongPort, HCM City ports would bring in infrastructure fees of 1,925 billion VND(approx. 83.3 million USD).

Revenue from seaport infrastructurefees could also be used to invest in infrastructure developmentfor business activities, which would contribute to making HCM City a‘smart’ city and improve logistics services, he said.

The proposal to collect seaport infrastructurefees is supported by the HCM City Finance Department and the Sai Gon NewPort Corporation. 

Thang said that HCM City should use thefees to invest in transportation infrastructure and removeobstacles that prevent connections between seaportsand transportation networks.

As of late October, the city’s customs bureaureported total revenue of 99.4 trillion VND (4.3 billion USD),accounting for 91.4 percent of the city’s all estimatedrevenue for the year, and up by 15.3 percent (about 13.2 trillion VND)compared with the same period last year.

By the end of the year, the city’scustoms Bureau is expected to collect 121 trillion VND, up by 13.62 percentover last year, according to the Customs Bureau.

Thang said the bureau had taken steps tocontrol contraband, trade fraud, forgery of goods origin andintellectual property violations, including the turning of foreign productsinto “made-in-Vietnam” goods.

In the first nine months of this year, customsagencies in HCM City discovered 43 drug transport casesand seized more than 580 kilos of drugs of various types.

Thang said in the coming months, the citycustoms agencies would focus on efforts to combat contraband, tradefraud, tax evasion and fraud.

The Customs Bureau has asked authorities toprovide ports with modern machinery and equipment that candetect drugs in containers handled at the ports./.