Since the report released by the Ministry of Transport in December last year revealed that the national toll road lost a total of 66.1 billion in 2013, the debate over the toll road is a loss or a huge profit. Not long ago, some people questioned that the loss of toll roads was exaggerated. The rationale was that the toll road repayment time was shorter than the time of charging. During the debt repayment period, the toll road expenditure meeting was temporarily lost, but after the debt was paid, there would be a huge profit. In response to such doubts, the Information Office of the Ministry of Transport recently responded by stating that some toll roads have been repaying debts for a long time. Flat Iron Hair,Heat Styling Brush,Blow Dryer Brush,Hair Brush Blow Dryer Shenzhen Unitepin Tech Co.Ltd , https://www.rifnylife.com
A similar response we have seen before. Last year, the media reported that the profit of Guangshen Expressway was too high. It was a “printing machine†and should reduce the charging standard. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway responded that they are still paying off their debts.
In the debate about toll roads or huge profits, one party pointed out the situation of losses and the other party exposed the phenomenon of huge profits. In fact, both sides are talking about the facts. In the toll roads, there are both overall losses and some profits or even huge profits, both at this time and at the time of profit. The toll road system is a structure in which the profit and loss are very uneven.
First, the time distribution is not balanced. Generally speaking, the initial traffic volume is small, the debt pressure is high, and the possibility of loss is large; while the later toll increase, the debt service fee is reduced, and the profitability is enhanced. Second, the spatial distribution is not balanced, some road sections are very profitable, and others are very profitable. In the central and western regions, many new highways have been built in recent years, some of which are not large enough, and some highways in the eastern region are often congested. Even within the province of Guangdong, there are also the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, which has a long-term traffic flow, and the western coastal expressway with thin roads. Third, the profitability of different business entities is not balanced. According to the data of the Ministry of Transport, the mileage of the government repayment toll highway is longer than that of the operational toll highway, and the total investment is more. The expenditure in 2013 is similar, but the toll income of the former is only about 70 of the latter. %, less than 50 billion yuan.
In addition, toll roads have externalities that also cause structural problems. Road construction can increase the value of surrounding land and bring more income to local finances. In this case, even if the toll road is a loss, it also brings "profit" in terms of fiscal revenue. On the contrary, the economic development around the toll road can increase its toll income. The benefits of toll roads are not entirely caused by themselves, nor are they completely digested by themselves. This is externality. This kind of externality makes the loss and profit on the surface of the toll road less important. For example, it cannot be built because of the loss of highways in some areas, and the toll rate cannot be increased because of the loss. It cannot be said that the profit of the toll road is It's worth it.
The structural imbalances in the above four aspects of the toll road system are due to the fact that the road itself is a very weak public goods, and the profitability between the various parts cannot be balanced by the competition of the survival of the fittest. The toll roads that are profitable are equivalent to Obtain excessive monopoly profits. Excessive monopoly profits make some toll road expenditures (mainly operating management expenditures) too large, which is one of the reasons for the overall loss of toll roads. If the management expenditure is less, the toll roads are likely to be overall profitable. Therefore, we need to reflect deeply on the use of market-based competition models for roads, which are very competitive public goods.