The position increases confusion as to the short-term future of tolls in the Algarve, with the hierarchy of the PSD having spent the past four years standing firm against removing tolls, but are now calling for the opposite.
The Socialists on the other hand, who have successively questioned the viability of tolls on the A22, last week, speaking forthe first time about the topic since coming to power, said the matter of abolishing tolls was not one for the negotiating table.
But this week, the PSD, which introduced tolls on motorways such as the Algarve’s A22 back in 2011, saw its regional political party representatives find means to justify calling for the immediate reduction of tolls and eventual elimination in the foreseeable future.
The Social Democrats in southern Portugal said cutting the cost of travelling on the A22 or Via do Infante, should only be the beginning of redefining the system on the motorway.
In a statement sent to The Portugal News this week, the party further called for the renegotiation of contracts to operate the route “in order to maintain the progressive reduction of tolls to motorists until they are eventually abolished.”
PSD-Algarve was also critical of the inconsistent manner in which the newly-appointed Socialist government has dealt with the matter in recent months.
“We recall that on 20 September, at the beginning of election campaigning, [Prime Minister] António Costa expressed an openness to eliminate tolls on the Via do Infante...this was then followed by a u-turn by the Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques on 9 December stating that the abolition of tolls is not on the government’s agenda”, members of the PSD in the Algarve stated accusingly.
The party also called on the Socialist government’s partners, the Left Bloc and the Communist Party, to “show to what extent they are willing to go, bearing in mind that their parliamentary support of the current executive is decisive in keeping them in power.”
The PSD also placed responsibility on Left Bloc MP João Vasconcelos to act in accordance with his beliefs, “as he has been the principal face in the battle against tolls in the Algarve.
“In order to act consistently with the positions he has assumed over the years, to what extent is he willing to subvert his will in exchange for the power held alongside the Government?”
The PSD Algarve further argued that the introduction of tolls in 2011, shortly after the party came into power, was the result of damaging public-private partnership contracts signed by previous governments.
But it admits that tolls have led to “decreased mobility in the region and as a result, has always assumed the position that tolls on the Via do Infante should only be a temporary solution and dependent on the government’s ability to renegotiate contracts signed with road companies.”
The party argues that once contracts have been revised, savings to the state must immediately be passed on to motorists and that toll fees should be reduced with immediate effect on the basis of negotiations which have already been done or those nearing completion.
The party concluded by calling for guarantees that once tolls have been reduced or abolished, that the long-term financial sustainability of the motorway is ensured.