Spain denies having agreed on pay-per-use roads

Spain denies having agreed on pay-per-use roads. The government has said that it has not promised Brussels that new tolls would be implemented. These tolls though were included in the recovery plan.

The Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez has denied that the Government has agreed on “pay-per-use” tolls.

New tolls had been included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan which was sent to Brussels.  The plan was put forward in order to receive European funds to help Spain recover from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The government have also said on other occasions that “pay per use” tolls are needed on dual carriageways and motorways.

Sanchez commented that the government is committed to “developing and aligning ourselves with the European Union’s strategy for safe, sustainable and connected mobility”.

The potential plans have caused much controversy. In the document sent to Brussels, it states: “It is necessary to develop a system of payment for use of the high-capacity road network to cover maintenance costs,” according to 20 minutes.

Spain has thousands of kilometres of motorways and dual carriageways that are currently paid for by the government. This is not considered to be sustainable and cannot be met by the Spanish budget. A “pay-per-use” system would help cover these costs and according to the document could be implemented from “2024 onwards”.

Confusion remains over the possible implementation of tolls.

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