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ARCHIVED - No dual carriageway tolls in Spain at the beginning of 2024
The government in Spain has delayed the toll system in light of the current financial crisis
Despite ongoing pressure from Brussels, the Spanish government has categorically decided this week to delay implementing tolls on the country’s dual carriageways and highways until at least 2024. The administration has made the decision not to further burden people with additional costs during this financial crisis but the fact that 2023 is an election year might also have something to do with it.
The payment mechanism for using the highways is included in the Transformation and Resilience Plan that Spain has sent to the EU, which specifies that “it is necessary to develop a pay-per-use system for the high-capacity road network that allows maintenance costs to be covered.”
However, while work might get underway next year to prepare for the roll-out of tolls, the system almost certainly won’t be enforced at the beginning of 2024 as was previously agreed.
Government sources have confirmed that the delay has already been communicated to the European Commission and that the powers that be in Brussels “understand” that, with high inflation and rising prices, “this is not the time” to burden tax payers further.
"It is not a matter that right now is a priority and urgent," the government has insisted.
Instead, the Ministry of Transport will continue to work with the local governments and politicians and the transport sector in deciding on the toll model best suited to Spain.
So essentially, no real progress is expected in 2023, which means that a payment system for the dual carriageways is likely to get underway some time in 2024, but not necessarily from January 1.
However, President Sanchez remains steadfast in his commitment to employing tolls on the high-capacity roads at some point in the future. This measure, he said, is designed to balance the accounts and curb the annual deficit caused by road maintenance.
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