The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has presented a bill to Parliament, arguing that 13 years after the introduction of tolls on the A28 freeway, the government should revert its concession to the public domain, it was released this Wednesday, February 8
In a statement sent to the press on Wednesday, the communist deputies authors of the draft law No. 549/XV/1ª consider that this measure allows the elimination of the collection of tolls on the stretch between Angeiras, Matosinhos, and the parish of Darque, in the municipality of Viana do Castelo.
"The Government, in the strict defense of public interest, during the year 2023, will take the necessary steps to revert to the State the Silver Coast concession provided for in Annex I referred to in Article 2 of Decree-Law No. 67-A/2010 of June 14," says the PCP draft law.
The bill, which entered the parliament last Friday, signed by Paula Santos, Bruno Dias, Alma Rivera, Alfredo Maia, Duarte Alves and João Dias, argues that the managing entity of all sections and sub-sections of the A28 freeway should be the Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP).
For the communists, with the reversion of the concession "no compensation is due to the entity that holds the concession".
"It is the Government's responsibility to create the conditions for this law to take effect in 2023, considering the budgetary availability for the economic year," argues the PCP.
For PCP, the reversion to the State of the freeway concession that links Viana do Castelo to Porto is justified by the country's current situation.
"In a moment marked by low wages, speculative increases in essential goods and services and loss of purchasing power by the lower classes, the increases that have occurred and the direct compensation to the freeway concessionaires amounting to around 140 million euros, is unacceptable and even more unacceptable when it is the Tax Authority that continues to collect the debts for the benefit of the concessionaire," states the document.
For the communists, "the introduction of tolls on the North Coastal freeway (A28) was a severe blow to the economic fabric and worsened the already difficult living conditions of all those who, with no alternatives, travel on these structural roads. After all these years, it is possible to conclude that in this process only the concessionaire has won. The State, the people and the regional economy have lost and continue to lose.
"It is the right to mobility of the people that is being denied and it is the national economy that is harmed for the exclusive benefit of the concessionaire. The PCP, from the beginning, was and is in the front line of defense of the end of tolls in the old SCUT [No Cost to the User] that were imposed by the PSD/CDS and PS governments and defends that these roads, because they are fundamental for regional development, because there is no viable alternative and by imperative of justice should not be tolls," they sustain.
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