Tolls on the Algarve’s Via do Infante motorway was discussed in Parliament once again on Thursday, but the ruling Socialist Party concluded that, "the country does not have the economic and financial conditions to be "free of tolls."
Parliament discussed a series of legislative initiatives from five political parties, with the exception of the Socialists, to end tolls on Via do Infante.
The Communist Party, the Left Bloc and Greens insist on the abolition of tolls and the CDS and PSD want the tolls suspended or reduced during the works on the EN125 but the Socialists now say the country can’t afford it, a different excise to “it’s all the Troika’s fault” which has been used in the past.
MP Helder Amaral, of the CDS-PP, said the subject kept cropping up and accused the government of not keeping to its televised pledge to scrap the tolls, adding that, "the Algarve is always being deceived."
The MP, who stressed his party's view that ‘user pays’, said that in the specific case of the Algarve, a "serious injustice" is being done due to the lack of a suitable alternatives to the motorway.
Cristovão Norte of the PSD also emphasized that "the Socialist Party promised a 50% reduction in tolls on the Via do Infante" and accused the Socialists of "deceiving citizens".
Algarve Communist Party MP, Paulo Sá, made it quite clear that the 15% discounts introduced last August were "an intermediate step" and that "now is the time to abolish tolls."
"The tolls are not an inevitability, as some try to make believe," said the MP, stressing that "if there are still tolls in Via do Infante it is because PS, PSD and CDS want them."
For João Vasconcelos, from the Left Bloc in the Algarve, "nothing is expected of the PSD and CDS, but the Socialist Party will have the opportunity to think twice and vote for our proposals."
The Left Bloc stressed that "it is not possible to carry on with more than 10,000 road accidents a year oin one region", considering that "it is not enough to argue, first that it’s the Troika, and now its ‘financial difficulties’ in the country."
"The PS government now has this opportunity to redeem itself," said Vasconcelos, adding that "if the tolls are not abolished the fight will continue."
José Luís Ferreira, of the environmental party The Greens, also pointed out the lack of alternatives to the Via do Infante and the consequences of the tolls for "the loss of competitiveness and losses for employment and for the region."
The Socialist Party’s recollection of history differs from the truth with MP António Eusébio stating that "the Via do Infante free of tolls was not a commitment from the Socialist Party for the legislature" and that "Portugal does not have the financial and economic conditions" to scrap them, while offering no figure for cancelling the contract.
"The commitment of the Socialist Party PS was progressively to decrease tolls on the Via do Infante and we have already started," said the MP, pointing to the introduction of a 15% discount last August.
"We can affirm today with greater conviction that the reduction in tolls generates an increase of traffic and that by reducing tolls it is possible to maintain the revenue for the State," said António Eusébio, for whom the reduction of the tariffs "must be increased over the next few years."
So, there we have it. No data discussed, no cost-benefit analysis, no revelation of the secret clauses in the concession contract that have ensured successive governments keep the tolls in place with the concern that the exit cost is so high, no government ever will dare admit the sum.
