The information was stated by Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang at the 5th Conference of the Executive Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, held on the afternoon of April 1.
Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang said that the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has a policy of exempting buses for people in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, this content is being assigned to the Department of Construction to calculate and implement.
Mr. Tran Luu Quang said that the city is exempting buses for people aged 60 and over, with a budget of about 1,700 billion VND/year. If policies are expanded, the budget is expected to increase about 3.5 times, equivalent to about 7,000 billion VND per year.
The goal of this policy is to encourage people to reduce the use of motorbikes and switch to buses. In addition, taking buses also helps low-income people save costs.
The city must spend such a large amount to achieve great goals. At the 1st Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, General Secretary To Lam assigned the city the task of reducing traffic jams and pollution. To make people abandon motorbikes and take buses, it must be free" - Mr. Tran Luu Quang said.
The Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee also requested the Department of Construction to advise on re-planning bus routes to be more efficient, punctual, and polite.
At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City strives to increase the number of electric buses through economic mechanisms and solutions, contributing to improving the environment from small things.
Before the merger, Ho Chi Minh City had 138 bus routes, of which 109 routes were subsidized. Each year, the Ho Chi Minh City budget spends more than 1,000 billion VND to subsidize buses.
After merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City currently has 179 bus routes with 2,112 vehicles, of which 1,301 are electric buses, accounting for about 62% of the total number of vehicles.
In the period 2025 - 2030, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to convert an additional 3,011 oil and CNG buses to electric vehicles, including 1,537 vehicles to replace old vehicles and 1,474 newly invested vehicles.
Also according to Mr. Tran Luu Quang, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has agreed in principle to exempt seaport border gate infrastructure.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City collects fees for vehicles entering the port, then uses them to invest in infrastructure, repair, and build new roads. In the context of rising world oil prices, Ho Chi Minh City has resources and shares and encourages everyone to participate in responding to world fluctuations.
Previously, from 0:00 on April 1, 2022, Ho Chi Minh City collected seaport infrastructure fees, with the lowest level of 15,000 VND per ton of bulk cargo, unpackaged container cargo and the highest of 4.4 million VND per 40-foot container for temporarily imported and re-exported goods, sent to bonded warehouses, and transshipment.
By the end of 2025, the total amount collected from seaport infrastructure fees is about 8,200 billion VND.
