The government finally has announced toll reductions on previously free SCUT roads, but the 15% decrease has been met with disappointment and criticism from user groups.
The “prudent and balanced” toll discounts will apply from August 1st on four SCUT roads which mostly are in rural areas, and the trans-Algarve A22 Via do Infante.
The government has tried to put a positive spin on the reductions, talking of ‘economic convergence’ and ‘territorial cohesion’ to justify the discounts on the A22, A23, A24, A4 and A25 but user groups are aghast at the miserly discount, pointing out that a higher discount would have increased overall revenue on some roads.
The Minister of Planning, Pedro Marques, says that "this is a decision that fulfills an election promise from the government and is important for the economy of the interior regions."
Marques said that 15% "is a significant, prudent and sustainable amount for the public accounts and for Infraestrutura de Portugal," despite his full knowledge of expert opinion concluding that a 50% reduction on the A22 and other SCUT roads would yield more income overall due to increased useage.*
The Users Committee of the Via do Infante (CUVI) was quick to condemn the 15% discount as "clearly insufficient."
"It's very little. This was not what we expected. We expected at least 50%. Therefore, this increase is clearly not enough and will not bring about change, because 15% is close to nothing," said José Domingos of CUVI.
User Committees covering the other roads included in the August 1st reductions say the decrease is "largely insufficient" and said an end to the tolls is the only alternative for their regions.
Freight transport will have additional discounts to those that currently exist and an extension in low-rate travel hours to "mitigate the effects of the toll on economic activity and exports, and specifically on costs freight," according to the Minister.
The discounts are to run, “for the summer months” two of which conveniently have been missed out with June and July already showing record tourist figures across the Algarve. It is not yeat known on which date the tolls will go back up to their current levels.
(The official ordinance will be published later today, Wednesday 20th July, 2016, so there will be an update when more details are available.)
* See: 'New report: 'Drop Algarve tolls 15% and income would go up €5 million'' (June 3, 2016)
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