Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Uber Vietnam has confirmed that CEO DangViet Dung stepped down from his post on October 1 after three years of runningthe ride hailing service firm in the country.

Information on the reason for Dung’s departure or the new CEO hasnot been disclosed, till date.

The company said it will still operate normally in the country.

Dung’s departure comes at a time when Uber is struggling with anumerous challenges, including tax scrutiny by the authorities and increasinglyharsh competition in the tech-driven transportation market in the country witha population of more than 90 million.

Besides the crisis faced by Uber globally, Uber Vietnam, whichreportedly has four million users, is faced with complaints from users andobjections from drivers following a decision to increase transportation feesfrom 7,000 VND (0.3 USD) to 8,500 VND per kilometre in August, together with anincrease from 20 percent to 25 percent in the amount it collected from drivers.

In September, the HCM City Tax Department decided to collect 67billion VND in tax arrears from Uber Vietnam, which triggered a rumour that Uberhas ceased operation in the country. However, the company immediately deniedthe rumour.

Services of Uber in Vietnam include UberX, Uber SUV, UberBlack,uberMoto and uberDelivery.

Uber entered Vietnam along with Malaysia-based Grab,which received massive funding from SoftBank Group Corp. and China’s ridebehemoth Didi Chuxing.

With a more “localised” development strategy in Vietnam, which wasevaluated to be more suitable to the demand of a majority of Vietnamese users,Grab pushed aggressively in Vietnam and won significant market share over Uber.

In addition, Indonesia’s first billion-dollar startup Go-Jek is reported to be looking to expand its ride-hailing services in three to fourcountries in Southeast Asia. While the targeted countries are not specified, Vietnam is anticipated to be among Go-Jek’s preferred countries

The penetration and aggressive expansion of tech-driven transportservices firms in Vietnam ended up pushing traditional taxi firms into a lot ofdifficulties, who called for more intensified management measures against Uberand Grab.

Traditional taxi firms said the rapid increase in the number ofUber and Grab vehicles is creating pressure on the country’s transportinfrastructure, which is already overloaded, and causing tax losses to theState budget.

Traditional taxi firms said they face unfair competition fromtech-driven firms, calling on passengers to use their services as they pay taxes to the Government budget.

Recently, the Hanoi Taxi Association proposed to stop theimplementation of a pilot project to apply technology in passengertransportation, adding that Uber and Grab vehicles have outnumbered 50,000 in thecountry. The association also estimated that Uber and Grab send some 36trillion VND (1.58 billion USD) abroad each year, causing losses in taxcollection.

A representative from the Ministry of Transport, however, saidthere are no grounds to ban the operation of Uber and Grab in the country. Businesses are allowed to do anything that the laws do not ban, and this is faircompetition.

Regarding reports of tax evasion by Uber, the ministry said thatthe company must pay taxes in line with established regulations.-VNA/VNS