Parliament has approved a Socialist Party proposal to reduce tolls on four formerly free motorways including the Algarve’s Via do Infante.
No date for the toll reductions has been given nor the level of discount but earlier musings by the governing party suggested this summer sometime, perhaps, depending on the budget.
But toll reductions will be of no earthly benefit to the vast majority of Algarve travellers as any reductions in toll rates may only be made for drivers using the entire A22 from the first gantry after the border to the last one near Lagos.
For 99.9% of drivers who live locally and who hop on and hop off the A22, the toll rates will remain at the same level as currently.
Left Bloc and Communist Party MPs wanted the tolls removed completely in the Algarve, certainly while the EN125 roadwork are being done, and on the other former SCUT roads but the ruling Socialists said the only concession it was making was for an easing in toll charges which, if made this year as now promised, inevitably will be after the lucrative summer season of foreign drivers baffled by the multitude of payment options and charged the current high rates per kilometre.
The People’s Party agreed and the Social Democrats failed to get engaged in the process as it always has said that the user should pay for the service, (apart from when wanting to get re-elected last Autumn,) deliberately ignoring the fact that by the tolls system contract means that the general taxpayer underwrites the annual shortfall in income, an income level based on unrealistic pre-toll traffic volumes.
The unsurprising Socialist vote, despite 'Via do Infante toll removal' forming an attractive part of PM António Costa’s pre-election list of promises, was due to 'budgetary pressures' despite the Algarve’s toll system costing the regional economy more than the tolls produce for the State in gross income.
The Socialist MP João Paulo Correia argued that the reduction in tolls "is a responsible proposal" that "does not undermine fiscal consolidation" and "fulfills the election commitment of the Socialist Party" - this last utterance is incorrect as the Socialist Party's leader said he would scrap tolls in the Algarve.
Local MP Paulo Sá said that it is "necessary to remove the unsustainable burden of tolls from the shoulders of the people of the Algarve," adding that the situation was compounded by the lack of alternatives to the A22 as the EN125 is in chaos.
Left Bloc MP and founding father of the movement against the Algarve tolls, João Vasconcelos, donned a yellow 'high visibility' contractors vest at the end of his passionate speech in Parliament. This possibly was a first showing for contractor's casual wear within the hallowed portals, with the words "No tolls on the A22" a clear sign of his stance, if one was needed.
Vasconcelos asked Socialist MPs to "have respect for those who elected them and to fulfill their promises" and classified the tolls on all the formerly free roads as "immoral and unjust," adding that in the Algarve there are around 10,000 accidents, more than 30 fatalities and more than 150 people are seriously injured due in large part to the higher volume of traffic on the EN125 which has been dubbed 'The Road of Death.'
Furthermore, added Vasconcelos, the Via do Infante gives rise to "an annual loss of €40 million" to state coffers.
This is the approximate sum sent by the treasury each year to the Spanish owned concession holder in support payments as the traffic volume on the Via do Infante unsurprisingly dropped four years ago when the tolls were imposed.
This tolls agreement is part of the concession contract which, as ever in State contracts, favours the commercial partner and stirrs suspicions that someone must have been paid a large sum to authorise a system that clearly is of huge disbenefit to the taxpayer for decades ahead.
The only possible alternative explanation for signing this taxpayer-funded commercial support programme is that those in government at the time lacked the mental powers to reason that the deal was unliateral and prejudicial to the State.
Vasconcelos finished off by saying the EN125 roadworks are never ending and are "a real ordeal a time when the summer season is almost upon us."
People’s Party MP Hélder Amaral accused the Socialists of perpetuating the "worst deal and the most ruinous one for the state."
Sadly much of today's debate was party politics, leaving the real issues as an inconvenient sideline.
The public still does not know the cost to the Algarve's regional economy of the A22 tolls. It does know the money raised from tolls and the additional support payment shelled out to the Spanish owned operator but does not know the cost of scrapping the tolls and tearing up the contract.
More importantly, the public is not allowed to know the secret clauses in the toll contracts which could explain why successive governments have resisted taking action to have the tolls scheme scrapped as costing more than they raise.
Without these figures, a sensible debate can not be held so a political party slanging match is the best the public could expect.
The Socialist Party remains coy as to when the A22 tolls will be reduced and by how much but the Algarve's road users are not holding their breath after yet another example of the new government failing to fulfill its promises and the lack of a firm date for toll reductions.
Bizarrely, the govenment is happy to suspend tolls on the eastern section of the A22 when work finally starts on upgrading the EN125 between Faro and VRSA but this pledge is far enough into the future also to be forgotten when the time comes, probably "for budgetary reasons" - again missing the bigger picture.
Too hear João Vasconcelos' impassioned speech, see:
http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/multimedia/videos/detalhe/deputado_veste_colete_refletor_em_protesto.html
