CUVI regretted that the vote against the socialists and the CDS-PP, together with the PSD’s abstention, allowed to reject in the Assembly of the Republic the proposal that the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Block) presented to eliminate the tolls on Via do Infante, as well as another one of the PCP to eliminate them in all the old Motorways Without Costs for the User (SCUT).
“That is, for the fifth time, consecutively, in State Budgets, the PS again failed to eliminate the tolls in the Algarve, being accompanied by the CDS. The PSD limited itself to opting for abstention, because it knew that the PS´, when voting against it, would be enough to disapprove the proposals presented by the Bloco de Esquerda and the PCP”, lamented CUVI in a statement.
The Commission that represents the users of the former SCUT of the Algarve, now A22, accused the PS of returning “to show its arrogance and contempt for the Algarve and its populations, along the lines of Prime Minister António Costa and his government”, which has already “completely forgotten the promises it made to the Algarve in 2015”.
The same source recalled that António Costa promised the Commission of Users, in a joint meeting in Quarteira, Loulé municipality, in 2015, that he would “study the Public Private Partnership contract and eliminate tolls in the Algarve” if he was elected prime minister, because the National Road 125 (EN125), the only alternative to the A22, was “transformed into a ‘cemetery’ due to the high number of road accidents and victims” that were registered on that road.
“As is well known, in addition to the high losses they have caused at economic, financial and mobility levels, tolls have triggered road accidents in the region, with many victims, particularly on the EN125, which is not yet fully upgraded between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, being considered one of the most dangerous and deadly roads in the country”, underlined CUVI.
The accident data, which points to “10,612 accidents” in the Algarve in 2019, with “36 fatalities and 220 seriously injured”, represents a new “tragedy” for the region, which should make the government and other officials “blush with shame” that persist in maintaining wrong, unfair and criminal tolls”, argued the Users Commission.
CUVI also considered that the PS and Government led by António Costa are “behaving exactly like the government of Passos Coelho and PSD / CDS”, which was responsible for introducing payment on the A22 on 11 December, 2011.