Why did truck drivers lose parking fees during the quarantine at Lao Cai?

through Kim Thanh international road border gate No. II (Lao Cai). Photo: T.Bình

Recently, truck drivers transporting goods in the southern region for exporting through Kim Thanh international road border gate No. II (Lao Cai) reflected that after driving truck to export goods to China, they returned and implemented isolation in 14-day as prescribed in Lao Cai.

Vehicles were deposited in some parking lots around the border area. However, when the 14-day isolation period expired, they came to get their vehiecles for returning to the south, the parking owner notified the fee of VND 100,000/vehicle/day and night. For cars deposited during the isolation period, the total amount to be paid is more than VND 1 million.

Regarding this, in the evening of February 19, the reporter of Customs News spoke over the phone with Ha Duc Thuan - Deputy Director of Lao Cai Economic Zone Authority.

According to Thuan, this was a parking service fee between the driver and an enterprise operating warehouses and yards and it was not a fee collected by the State management authority.

“This was a civil agreement between the driver and the warehouse business. The parking price was listed and posted publicly at the parking lot gate. It was also registered with the Department of Finance and made in advance. In case the enterprise charges higher than the listed price, the management authorities would ’whistle‘. In addition, State management authorities at the border did not collect any additional fees, ” Thuan said.

Leaders of the Lao Cai Economic Zone Authority said there were no complete statistics but the number of vehicles deposited by drivers who were subject to isolation was several dozen.

Also according to Thuan, from February 19, according to procedures in Decision 568/QD-BYT of the Ministry of Health, the driver when fully equipped with protective clothes and returning home during the day (exporting goods to China and returned to Vietnam during the day) would not be isolated for 14 days.

Regarding import and export activities at Kim Thanh international border gate No.II, according to the report of Lao Cai Customs Department, on February 19, there were 26 customs declarations implementing customs clearance, total weight of goods was nearly 2,770 tonnes. The main exported products were dragon fruit, jackfruit and ore.