ARCHIVED - Spain studies varying new toll road charges by region
The Transport Minister said discussions are ongoing about the payment-for-use system in Spain
Months after the Spanish government confirmed that it would implement a new toll system across the country’s roads, ministers are seemingly still trying to iron out the details of how exactly the new payment measures can be applied.
Last week, the Minister for Transport, Raquel Sánchez, said that the government is studying imposing a payment-for-use system on the Spanish road network that could vary across autonomous communities, but she refused to confirm if the new tolls would be executed by 2024, as was previously agreed.
“It seems logical that just as we pay for airports and ports, we also establish a fair and balanced system” for roads, Ms Sánchez explained, adding that “there may be the possibility that there are different systems depending on the autonomous community.” She stressed that there are many different options being studied, but that a final decision will only be made with the “consensus” of all those affected, including the transport sector, which threatened to strike last year over a myriad of complaints, including the introduction of tolls.
The decision can’t be put off indefinitely regardless of the controversy it generates, as President Sánchez committed to reforming the Spanish road network before the end of 2024 in order to receive a portion of the European Recovery Fund.
For now, however, the Transport Minister insists that the implementation of tolls won’t be considered until Spain is “in a moment in which the [economic] situation allows it to be promoted.”
Image: Archive
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