宜早不宜迟（经济时评）
陆娅楠 《 人民日报 》（ 2009年5月6日 09 版）
取消政府还贷二级公路收费，百姓拍手叫好，运输企业连连称快，国家财政还帮地方偿还四成以上的债务，这件惠民利己的好事，为何一些地方政府并不积极，有的甚至玩起二级升一级的“变脸”呢？
撤销收费站，困难多，任务重，不言而喻。我国收费公路中二级公路占60%，其中政府贷款修建的占80%以上。如此大规模的撤站，涉及数以万计的人员转岗安置问题，涉及数以百计的债务锁定偿还问题，涉及今后公路建设投融资体制创新的问题和养护路资金的来源问题……
千头万绪，难点重重，各个地方的实际情况又不一样，确实不能搞一刀切。为此，国家也确定了逐步有序的原则，以省为单位组织实施，可一次性全部取消，也可在省内分期分批取消。
然而，分批取消并不意味着当家人可以“磨洋工”，多挨一天是一天，地方政府还是要算算大账！
实际上，很多二级公路收费站早就不是传说中的“提款机”了。近些年，高速公路建设逐渐成网，原有的二级公路的干线骨架作用功能逐渐削弱，收费额逐年下降，债务包袱越来越重，许多收费站早就陷入了“越还不起债收费期限越长”的恶性循环。
另一方面，这些收费站大多分布在城乡居民频繁使用的区域，与当地经济发展和居民生产生活的矛盾日益突出。因为收费站点过密而影响招商引资的案例屡见不鲜。湖北武汉的东西湖吴家山收费站就曾导致该地五金建材城500户商家承受不了物流成本而外迁，一年税收损失15亿元。
撤销了收费站，顺应了民心，争取了商机，打破了发展的桎梏，创造了更好的投资和生活环境，实际上是赚来了新的“聚宝盆”，聚财气、聚人气、聚和气。既然是舍芝麻、捡西瓜的好事，还是宜早不宜迟吧！
译文:
Better Early Than Late
Better Early Than Late
Cancellation of Government’s debt-repaying road toll for secondary roads is applauded by the people and well appreciated by transportation enterprises; and the national treasury also assists in repaying 40% of the debt. But why are some local governments not having positive attitudes towards such a good event that is beneficial to everybody, and some of them even starting to play “face-change” game of promoting the secondary to the primary?
It is self-evident that withdrawing toll stations is difficult and burden-laden. The secondary roads account for 60% of all our roads that are with tolls, and more than 80% of which were built with government loans. Such a large-scale withdrawal of the stations involves problems of redeploying millions of personnel, locking up hundreds of debt repayment, and new investment and financing system for road construction and sourcing of road maintenance funds in future…
It is complicated and difficult to unravel, with nodi coming one after another and, the actual situation at each place is different. “To cut it even at one stroke” is really impossible. As such, the Government has decided on the principle of progressive and orderly implementation, with individual provinces organizing the task, either to completely cancel it once and for all, or cancel it in stages within the provinces.
Nevertheless, cancelling in stages does not mean the stakeholders can “dawdle along", as every day counts. Local governments ought to get their calculations right.
Actually, contrary to the hearsays, many secondary road tolls have not been "ATMs" for quite some time. In recent years, highway network construction has been progressing well, the original function of the secondary roads in support of the primary framework is diminishing, toll fees are dropping year by year, and the burden of debts is becoming heavier and heavier; many toll stations have long been caught in the nasty situation of "the more difficult to repay debts the longer will be the fees collecting period”.
On the other hand, these toll stations are mainly distributed over the districts where urban and rural residents frequently use, and it is becoming more and more prominent everyday that they contradict the development of local economy and the people's production activities. It is not uncommon to see the examples of too many toll stations affecting attraction of business investments. Wujiashan Toll Station at Dongxihu in Wuhan, Hubei has led to 500 local hardware and building materials suppliers in the town relocating away because of unbearable logistic cost, resulting in an annual revenue loss of 1.5 billion yuan to the government.
Toll station withdrawal complies with the aspirations of the people, competes for business opportunities, and breaks the shackles of developments, thus creating a better investment and living environment, and has in fact earned a new “cornucopia”, gathering fortune, popularity and harmony. Such a good deed of “penny foolish, pound wise” would certainly be better early than late.