Can financial plan go"bust" because of BOT loss?

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Losing many billions

According to a report by theVietnam Expressway Development Investment Corporation (VEC), the number of vehicles using highways in March has decreased by 15.8%, equivalent to a decrease of 16.2% in VEC revenue compared to the same period last year.

The Noi Bai-Lao Cai and CauGie – NinhBinh expressways were the two with the worst losses, with revenue declines of 28.6% and 15.4%, respectively. Although the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh – DauGiay highway has not decreased significantly in volume, the revenue is 1.5% lower than the same period in 2019.

Thus, for the first three months, VEC has collected fees from 11.57 million vehicles on nearly 500km of highways, down 2.4% in volume and 3% in revenue over the same period last year.

Compared withJanuary and February, VEC's number of vehicles as well as toll revenue in March had a sharp decrease compared to the same period last year, equivalent to 15.8% and 16.2%, making this enterprise short of collected VND58 billion in fees.

Not only theVEC highways, there are many other highways falling into the same situation due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The severe drop in vehicle traffic as well as toll revenue on these highways not only causes economic losses but also threatens the financial plan of the projects if this situation continues for a long time.

Revenue of toll plazas plummeted due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: ST.

The risk of “busting” financial plan

Talking to reporters from Customs Newspaper, economist Dang Dinh Dao analyzed that, in the next few months, if the situation continues, the Covid-9 epidemic will be complicated and the service industries like tourism, production, import and export have not been able to recover, the traffic volume through national highways will still decrease.

When the vehicle flow and cost do not increase, the revenue of the toll collection is insufficient compared to the financial plan, the enterprise will have to continue to offset losses, which will greatly affect the production and business activities and the existence of the business.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the price of using road services (often called BOT fee) is calculated in the financial plan of the project contract, enough for investors - BOT enterprises to repay the mobilized capital in road BOT projects. In recent years, BOT businesses have encountered many difficulties when reducing fees for some types of vehicles, and have not been increased as expected in the project contract under the Government's direction in Resolution No. 35/ NQ-CP.

Banks are also asking BOT businesses to raise additional capital for the lack of revenue to avoid the risk of debt restructuring and debt group transfer. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 epidemic caused the number of vehicles continue to decrease and made BOT enterprises even more difficult.

Recurring "evaporation" of profits after audit

“If this situation continues for a long time, it will put businesses and BOT investors in a difficult position. They cannot afford to suffer alone, because if it is left to danger of financial collapse, it will directly affect the refund capital of the project. Therefore, there should be additional support measures for businesses in this period such as adjusting the fee rates or the collection time to ensure the repayment of the project,"Mr. Dang Dinh Dao said.