On December 8, 2011, tolls began to be charged on Via do Infante, which until then was a free road for the User. 11 years later, the Via do Infante User Commission (CUVI) is still fighting for the abolition of tolls in the Algarve and returns to the streets in protest, on the 8th, at 15 pm.
CUVI will promote a slow march of vehicles along the EN 125, starting from Luz de Tavira (Largo da República) and ending in Tavira, next to the City Hall.
This action serves not only to demand the end of tolls, but also the requalification of the EN125 between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António.
Anti-toll activists on Via do Infante demand that the Government «suspend tolls in the Algarve while the EN 125 is not fully reclassified», as stipulated in a Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic of June 2020. «In other words, the Government must comply which was approved in Parliament, moving towards the total abolition of tolls».
«On the other hand, the Via do Infante PPP is very ruinous for the State, transferring tens of millions of euros every year to the pockets of the private concessionaire, sums from taxpayers that are lacking to fight the crisis, for public investment and for improving public services.
For CUVI, the 11 years that passed with tolls on the A22 were «a real setback for the Algarve, in which mobility in the region has regressed by more than 20 years and economic, social and territorial inequalities have worsened».
«The economic and social losses have been very high and many lives have been lost, as the tolls on Via do Infante forced the diversion of traffic to the EN125, still not fully reclassified today between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António and which has contributed to the increase in road accidents in the region", adds the movement, which accuses the PS and PSD of being "mainly responsible" for the situation, for "not putting an end to this calamity".
CUVI considers it “regrettable that the State Budget for 2023 does not contemplate, once again, the elimination of tolls on Via do Infante”.
This would be a fundamental measure, they consider, at a time when the Algarve, «not yet recovered from the pandemic, continues to experience a serious crisis due to the strong seasonality, inflation and the increase in the cost of living».
«It will be unaffordable for users and populations in the Algarve for the concessionaire to impose increases in toll rates and much less than the 10% increase as already announced. The region has several thousand unemployed and many thousands in precarious conditions and it is foreseeable that many companies will be thrown into bankruptcy, increasing unemployment, the difficulties and the needs of the population», defends CUVI.
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