The Government is studying “additional measures” to apply regarding tolls on the former Scut, namely on the inland motorways – A23 and A24 -, as well as on the A22 itself, in the Algarve.
Na joint interview given to six regional media across the country, among which the Sul Informação, deputy minister Pedro Siza Vieira said that, «with the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure, we are now verifying to what extent, in the review of the National Program [for Territorial Cohesion] that will follow this assessment, we can think of measures additional in this matter'.
So far, he underlined, the current Government has already taken some measures, such as a 15% reduction in prices in scuts for most users, but with greater reductions for professional transport.
Questioned by Sul Informação on which concrete measures are being studied, the minister did not want to say anything, not least because such measures will be announced by the minister of Planning and Infrastructure.
Faced with the insistence of questions from journalists from inland and Algarve media outlets about tolls on Scut, Pedro Siza Vieira admitted that there are “great costs for the model we have chosen to carry out the infrastructure of the country”.
The minister considered that there are "advantages that, as consumers, we have, by having this network of highways." The comparison made with Spain reveals that, in Portugal, motorways and fuel have much higher prices, with negative effects even on the lives of companies. But Siza Vieira argued that it should also be compared "with the time when we didn't have these highways", and that any journey consumed much more time, fuel and involved "many more dangers".
Initially, he added, "we decided to make some highways without tolls" paid by the user, "taking into account the regions in which they were located". But then "we decided to reverse that decision", taken by the previous Government.
See also photo gallery – Photos: Fabiana Saboya | Sul Informação
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