Beijing(CNS)--China will establish a long-term mechanism to perfect the country's tollway system and prevent illegal practices regarding the collection of highway tolls, said He Jianzhong, spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation, Wednesday.
On Monday, the central government launched a year-long national campaign to rectify irregular highway toll collections and eliminate unauthorized tollbooths as well as legal tollbooths that have continued to operate beyond their authorized period.
In recent years, increasingly high toll charges and the establishment of illegal toll stations have long been criticized by the public and the outcry over the management of the country's tollway system has been heard nationwide.
Since 1984, China began to use highway tolls. Though the system has been gradually improved, problems that have been criticized by the public need to be settled urgently, said Li Hua, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation.
According to Li, the long-term mechanism will be finished and carried out before April 2012 throughout the country. Experts believe the crackdown on illegal highway tolls will help lower overall costs for the country's logistics sector and stabilize prices in the long run.
