The Via do Infante User Commission maintains that the Socialist Party government and the opposition parties have a new "golden opportunity" to vote in favour of the elimination of tolls on the Algarve’s Via do Infante motorway in view of a proposals presented by the Left Bloc and the Communist Party.
"These political parties have one more golden opportunity to redeem themselves and to vote in favour of the proposals of the Left Bloc and the Communist Party presented in the details of the State Budget for 2019. The Algarve is watching these negotiations in parliament,” the Commission said in a statement.
The anti-tolls movement is highly critical of the prime minister, recalling his promises about removing the tolls.
"When does António Costa expect to accomplish what he promised the Algarve? Before becoming Prime Minister, recognising that the EN125 was a 'cemetery', he promised to abolish tolls on the Via do Infante and to this day has done nothing! His word has not yet been honoured," reads the statement.
According to the users' Commission, the motorway tolls, "have had a very negative impact on the Algarve, not only in economic, social and financial terms, but also in terms of mobility," which points out that, since 1 January this year, there have been 33 fatalities and 180 seriously injured on the Algarve roads - six more dead and six more seriously injured than in the same period last year.
"The Algarve will surpass the 10,000 accidents figure this year. This is a monumental disgrace in the main tourist region of the country and is the responsibility of the executive, the PSD and the CDS which persist in keeping the tolls," concludes the Commission.
