The Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, is in need of a diary and some help with the seasons after he reiterated in Barcelos today that that "during the summer" the conditions will be right to lower toll charges on the formerly free SCUT motorways, including the Algarve’s Via do Infante.
"During the summer, we will have completed this decision," said Marques whose lack of purpose and timing compete equally. The inevitable result of his deliberate delay and with the summer season now well underway, nothing has happened nor is likely to while he continues to devise forms of words that mean little and lead to even less.
The toll reductions are to cover the A22, A23, A24, A25 and "possibly also the Transmontana Freeway which links Oporto to Bragança,” although it is not clear why this road is subject to such official vacillation.
"There is a formal negotiation that has to be developed with the concessionaire of the A23 road" and "I hope during the summer, on the one hand, to complete this negotiation and, on the other hand, to be able to reduce tolls on the former SCUT roads," said Marques, drifting ever further away from a conclusion and a toll reduction start date so desperately needed in the Algarve as the EN125 traffic builds up to its summer peak.
Pedro Marques announced in April that the tolls would go down “this summer,” and at the time explained that the reduction would not be immediate because it is necessary to negotiate with the concessionaire of the A23 motorway.
The minister said that he was very tired after complex negotiations for the A23 toll reduction “signed by the previous government,” and hinted at the possibility of 'associated costs' if the contract is modified.
The A23 motorway is a mixed model of toll revenue and the granting of compensation payments, as is the Algarve’s A22 Via do Infante but with the minister finding the negotiations rather tiring, there is little hope of a toll reduction anytime soon to relieve the EN125 of much of its summertime traffic volume.
