Dismay at ‘trivial’ toll reduction
On Wednesday, the government announced that tolls on four previously free motorways would be reduced by 15 percent starting on 1 August. Prior to the announcement, which many observers feared would not come into force, expectations were that discounts could be around 50 percent. Following the news, associations set up to promote the interests of motorists, have all ridiculed the discount, arguing it will make little difference to reducing traffic on congested secondary routes and that it was more a token gesture than one of any particular value.
Minister of Infra-
structure and
Planning, Pedro
Marques revealed
on Wednesday that prices on four motorways, which were free until 2012, would come down by 15 percent in August.
The A22 motorway in the Algarve, along with the A23 (Guarda) and the A24 (Viseu) would all become cheaper, he said, along with a stretch of the A25 motorway in northern Portugal.
The government explained that the discounts are the result of “mitigating the effects tolls have had on exports and economic activities, such as the transport of merchandise.”
Heavy commercial vehicles will enjoy additional discounts, ranging from 15 to 30 percent.
During the announcement, Pedro Marques said the reduction could imply losses in revenue for the state in the region of 13.6 million euros, but explained the sacrifice was worthwhile to support rural areas.
However, a study commissioned last year and which was handed to the government in the spring, suggested that reducing tolls would actually generate revenue, with estimates pointing to a figure of 22 million euros.
The Socialist government had at the time explained that this study formed an integral part of their decision to lower tolls this summer.
One of the biggest potential earners for the state in reducing tolls would be the Algarve’s A22 motorway, researchers revealed.
A cut of a mere 15 percent in tolls would see revenue climb by seven million euros, the study found.
Researchers added that even if reductions were to go up to 35 percent, the state would still collect more money from tolls than if it were to keep prices unchanged.
The Socialist government had previously said it was against the total abolition of the tolls because “it is absolutely imperative and necessary to make sure the budget remains balanced”.
“Unfortunately, that still remains a long way off. What we propose is that there is a trend to give back the rights drivers had in the past, before tolls were introduced”, Socialist MP Luís Moreira Testa said at the end of May.
As expected, associations set up against tolls on these motorways all lambasted the value of the long-awaited toll reduction, especially as the position of the government appeared more inclined to a larger mark down in toll fees.
The Commission of Via do Infante Road Users in the Algarve (CUVI) said the discount was “clearly insufficient.”
“It is very little. This is not what we expected. We were hoping for at least 50 percent. This is clearly insufficient and will change nothing, because 15 percent is nothing”, the commission’s representative José Domingos was quoted as telling Lusa News Agency.
As a result, Domingos said that a protest will be staged on Saturday against the deteriorating state of the Algarve A22 motorway and the discount of “only 15 percent.”
The protest will be held at the Spanish border at 5pm on Saturday, with several others already being planned for the summer across the region.
“We will also be protesting outside the Prime Minister’s holiday home when he comes to the Algarve”, he added.
The Commission has also recommended that despite the discount, motorists should continue using the EN125 “as it is in a better state than the A22 and it’s free.”
Left Bloc MP elected for the Algarve, João Vasconcelos and member of the CUVI could not conceal his disappointment, writing in a post on his Facebook page that “the struggle continues. A reduction in tolls of only 15 percent is ridiculous and in bad taste.”
Those who oppose tolls will also feel let down by the prime minister, who has, in the past, criticised fees on motorways such as the Algarve’s A22.
Last September, a month before being elected Prime Minister, António Costa referred to the EN125 as “a massacre” and a “cemetery”, due to an increase in traffic on this road and a drop on the A22.
António Costa told reporters that his party “had already stated that it is necessary to re-evaluate the contractual obligations the state has assumed”, adding that one of his party’s priorities was to go one step further and “eliminate” tolls and “create better access routes” in the Algarve and in the countryside.
The current prime minister afterwards said that although he was not supportive of anti-toll protests, and that he was “unenthusiastic about eliminating tolls”, some situations were in urgent need of an overhaul, such as the A22 Via do Infante, which runs the length of the Algarve.