Portugal’s Communist Party lodged a petition on Monday for parliament to vote on abolishing the tolls on the Algarve’s Via do Infante motorway.
"There is clear evidence that the introduction of tolls on the Via do Infante five years ago was deeply detrimental to the interests of the Algarve, with very negative repercussions on the mobility of citizens and economic activity in the region, contributing to the increase in difficulties for companies, the destruction of employment and the rise in regional road accidents," reads the document.
The petition submitted by MPs, Paulo Sá, João Oliveira, António Filipe, Miguel Tiago, João Ramos and Carla Cruz state that the Via do Infante has no valid alternative and that the only other road across the region is the EN125 where roadworks "have dragged on painfully for several years."
The politicians point out that toll collections for the motorway are not an inevitability but a political choice of several governments that have sought to reduce state spending on road concessions.
Nonetheless, the MPs criticise the fact that the tolls process has involved a ‘fabulous income’ for the companies involved.
The Communist petition points out the 15% toll price reduction last year as welcome, but wholly insufficient to make a difference and demands the tolls are scrapped forthwith.
Despite this being a contract that received public money, there are secret clauses in the Via do Infante toll concession deal so we will never know what the terms of disengagament and hence, how much it would cost the taxpayer if the government could be persuaded to scrap the agreement.
The Communist MPs are as much in the dark as the public which continues to pay twice for the tolls scheme: once by the actual toll income raised from motorists and again through general taxes as the government subsidises the concession holder if the traffic volume is not as high a pre-toll levels - which of course it has been from the beginning.