Fury as Alicante tolls scrapped but similar demands for Costa del Sol's AP-7 motorway ignored

Spain's ministry of transport argues that the Costa Blanca toll road already belongs to the government, so eliminating tolls does not require compensation to be paid to any concessionaire

Ignacio Lillo

Malaga

Tuesday, 16 July 2024, 12:11

Provincial politicians have criticised the central government for scrapping tolls on a motorway in Alicante, but rejecting similar demands in Malaga.

It comes after transport minister Óscar Puente announced that one of Alicante's ring roads, which is a toll road, will be free of charge from Monday 15 July until 15 October, with the aim of decongesting traffic.

The announcement sparked an angry response with Partido Popular Malaga president Patricia Navarro demanding the government give the province "the same treatment" as Alicante and "immediately" scrap the toll on the Costa del Sol motorway (AP-7).

Navarro hoped a meeting on Wednesday between the central government and provincial leaders to discuss the extension of the Costa del Sol railway line will be "a gesture of goodwill" towards the province. "It is a great opportunity for the government to show that it does not discriminate against regions," she said. Navarro said Wednesday's meeting is "the ideal occasion" for the Spanish government "to show that it does not discriminate between regions, as we have been accustomed to up until now".

Navarro pointed out the Costa del Sol needs the toll to be scrapped in order to improve traffic flow as the people of Malaga demand it: "We have to nip the collapse of the A-7 motorway in the bud and make progress in road safety, and freeing up the toll on the motorway must be an immediate step". Navarro said this measure should be adopted as a prior step to the proposed construction of the coastal train line, in a first phase from Malaga to Marbella and then to Algeciras to meet the growing population demand.

Response from the ministry

However, the ministry of transport takes a very different view. The key is that in order to rescue the Alicante toll there is no need to pay any private concessionaire, as this road is already public (state-owned).

Ministry sources said the Malaga tolls are two concessions that were granted precisely by the Partido Popular and are in force until 2046 and 2054, respectively. "They are mixing things that make no sense; we cannot take away a right from a company that has concessions, by the way, from the time of the PP (1996 and 1999)," they said. "The PP is throwing something in our faces that they did themselves, it is absolute cynicism."

Autopista del Sol (Ausol) is the holder of the administrative concessions for the construction, maintenance and operation of the AP-7 Malaga-Estepona motorway (in operation since 25 June 1999) and the AP-7 Estepona-Guadiaro motorway (in service since 12 August 2002). The Málaga-Estepona section is granted until 2046, and the Estepona-Guadiaro section until 2054, they added.

In contrast, the AP-7 Alicante ring road has been managed by the public company SEITT (Sociedad Estatal de Transporte Terrestre) since 2018, when it had to revert to the State due to financial problems. It has a public operating regime articulated through an agreement that provides for bonuses to be made. "Therefore, the case of the AP-7 motorway on the Costa del Sol is completely different from that of the AP-7 Alicante, given that it is a toll motorway with a private management regime through concession contracts between the concessionary company and the General State Administration".

Toll motorways under concession are governed by specific regulations, which form part of the concession contracts entered into by the respective concession companies and the granting authority. These regulations establish rights and obligations for both the administration and the concessionaire. The latter's rights include the collection of tolls in accordance with the approved tariffs.

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