Instead, the Socialist government introduced a 15 percent discount on tolls, followed by two increases.
The CUVI has once again reminded Prime Minister António Costa of his comments a month before the general elections in 2015 that he “admitted removing tolls on the A22 motorway, recognising that the EN125 road was a cemetery.”
The Commission this week questioned whether “the current government and the Socialists are being held hostage by strong and ruinous economic interests involving the obscurity of the Public-Private Partnership over the Via do Infante.”
The government is also accused of persisting in maintaining “wrong, unfair and arbitrary tolls which have already destroyed so many lives.”
The Commission also referred to road accident statistics to highlight the fact that collisions and injuries have been on the rise since the introduction of tolls on the A22.
The organisation has also called on political parties to draw up proposals calling for an end to tolls in the Algarve, saying it is going to request meetings with both the Prime Minister and the President, during which local authorities, business people and interest groups will travel to Lisbon in order to discuss their grievances.
The CUVI has meanwhile called another slow march protest on the EN125 for 20 January, which will start at the Portimão Arena at 4pm and end in Lagos.