‘Motor vehicle user’s charge solely for road maintenance’

VEHICLE owners were assured that the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) they paid as registration fee to the Land Transportation Office will be strictly used to serve its purpose as per Republic Act 8794.

The law imposes an MVUC on owners of all types of motor vehicles, whether for hire or for private use, including government motor vehicles, depending on the classification and/or vehicle model.

“Road users are entitled to the services they pay in terms of smoother, faster and more convenient travel and road safety,” Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson as he directed DPWH field officials “to ensure that MVUC funds are used solely for preventive road maintenance.”

In Western Visayas, P396 million from the MVUC had already been released for the preventive maintenance of roads and another P25 million for the put up of road safety devices this year.

“Road safety devices should be installed in critical road sections to ensure safe travel or to locations called ‘black spots’ along national roads,” Singson said Wednesday in a statement to Sun.Star.

“Black spots” are sections of roads where accidents often occur and are recorded in the DPWH’s Traffic Accident Recording System, which determines the sections on where to put engineering interventions to address the occurrence of accidents.

“No more double-decker guard rails, no more cat’s eyes on just any road, no more chevron lined up like fences along the roads,” Singson said, adding that road safety devices should be installed where they are needed.

MVUC funds are allotted for the maintenance of national and provincial roads to ensure satisfactory service to road users, economic road transport operations and the preservation of road assets.

The MVUC funds shall help stimulate economic activities in the countryside, he added.