The Committee of Users of the Via do Infante (CUVI) expects that MPs will approve the suspension of tolls on the Algarve’s motorway when the topic is dicsussed in parliament on Friday.
The 14,000 name petition for the suspension of the tolls has been filed and is on Friday’s parliamentary agenda.
João Vasconcelos, the CUVI leader said that the projections and targets put forward in December 2011 clearly have not been fulfilled. Meanwhile, "the situation is getting worse in the Algarve."
"The Via do Infante now carries 70% less traffic than before the tolls were introduced and the consequent financial losses are very high," said Vasconcelos, emphasising that these reasons alone justify the suspension of tolls, and adding that the political balance in the Algarve since the last municipal elections, where the PSD lost most councils to the PS and other parties, gives "a sign that there may be some positive steps in the near future. Examples are the various anti-toll motions that have been approved by councils in the region, as in Portimão and Loulé.”
"The damage is more than clear, unemployment is catastrophic in the Algarve with around 100,000 out of work, tolls greatly have contributed to this. The traffic on the EN 125 is terrible and the only reason there are not more accidents is the general lack of traffic caused by the economic downturn. Let's see what happens tomorrow," and let’s see how the Algarve’s MPs vote on the issue as in the past some have voted for the tolls, or abstained.
The CUVI leader said that "about two dozen members of CUVI will travel to Lisbon in the morning" to join other members already there.
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