Yesterday marked 9 years of tolls on Via do Infante (A22), a "very negative and unfair for the Algarve" event introduced by the PSD / CDS government, with the support of the PS, on December 8, 2011.
They have been "years of genuine ordeal for the Algarve, in which mobility in the region has regressed by more than 20 years and territorial inequalities have worsened", said the Via do Infante User Commission (CUVI).
"The economic and social losses have been enormous and many lives have been lost, since the introduction of tolls on the Via do Infante forced the massive diversion of traffic to the EN125, which is not yet fully upgraded between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António and which has enhanced road accidents. PS and PSD, having not resolved this saga once and for all, are responsible for the discrimination of the populations of the Algarve", justifies the CUVI.
Now, under the State Budget for 2021 "tolls in the Algarve will suffer a 50 percent reduction, against the wishes of the government and the PS. This is a positive step, which represents some relief for users, companies and populations, but what is needed is the abolition, pure and simply, of tolls in the region. It is a struggle that the Users Commission will continue to pursue until the end. The PS, a few years ago, promised to cut toll rates by 50 percent, but it never delivered. But now, it has ended up bending due to the vote of the opposition in the Assembly of the Republic".
For CUVI, “this is precisely what should happen, the abolition of tolls at a time when the Algarve is experiencing one of the most serious crises in its history and which will dramatically worsen, due to the pandemic, the monoculture of tourism and the lack of support from the government. The government has no intention of responding positively to the social and economic emergency that the Algarve is experiencing. The region already has more than 25 thousand unemployed and it is foreseeable that many companies will be thrown into bankruptcy, increasing unemployment, the difficulties and the needs of the people".
In this way, CUVI considers that “the government should suspend tolls in the Algarve, as stipulated by the Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic no. 50/2001, of 20 June 2020. In other words, the government must comply with what was approved in Parliament. In addition, the Via do Infante PPP (like all others) is very ruinous for the State, transferring tens of millions of euros to the private concessionaire's pockets every year, funds from the taxpayers that are lacking to combat the crisis, for the National Health Service, for investment. And Prime Minister António Costa must keep the word given to the Algarve in 2015, which, if it were a government, would end the tolls in the Algarve. To this day, that promise has been nothing but empty and unfulfilled words".
Comments
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I understand your comment on the roads issue as the EN125 from Tavira to the border with Spain is a disgrace and is in immediate need of resurfacing.
However I do not understand your issue with the hospitals, as they appear to be in good order and well run.
Your reference to Andalusia and Algarve is a mystery to me, as Andalusia is rural all the way to Saville and Algarve is a mixture of rural and urban.
And in reference to Patrik´s point at #2, I suspect that many incomers choose to live here for precisely that reason.
Don't disagree with your first paragraph Peter, but you have the decimal point in the wrong place in the second.
Algarve population is 439,000 and Portugal's population 10,280,000 = 4.3%. Still small but comparatively wealthy.
As far as the Algarve is concerned, its area contains only 0,04% of the population of Portugal and many relatively wealthy foreigners. There are vanishingly few votes to be earned from governmental investment in the Algarve.
At border, there’s no way provided to even buy a toll ticket, machines only take cards,
Many people don’t use banks anymore.
There’s no way to buy a toll ticket,
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POST OFFICE ! !
Even the eussr notified them 3 months ago, the a22 tolls are illegal, must be removed!
Do not pay these tolls! Its a scam, to rob you.
At border, there’s no way provided to even buy a toll ticket, machines only take cards,
Many people don’t use banks anymore.
There’s no way to buy a toll ticket,
If u drive a foreign car, u cannot even pay u tolls later in post office, there system dont cater for foreign plates.
U r not obliged to pay those tolls on algarve a22,
The tolls 100% designated illegal, even by the eussr.
So
So basically, as taxpayers we pay 3 times. First as taxpayers in the 80s & 90s to pay for its construction in the first place (via EU grants), again to drive on it and still our taxes pay for its maintenance, such as it is.
As inept as successive governments appear to have been, the A22 'deal' is so ruinous (for the taxpayer) that nothing can explain its being other than extremely well-stuffed brown envelopes in exchange for the wet signatures. Factor in that the contract states that details of the deal must remain confidential and it is hard to come to any other conclusion.
My view is that the Algarve is viewed from Lisbon northwards as Portugal's playground, sucking funds out of the system and contributing very little beyond a warm place to spend a fortnight each year.