Companies that charged tolls require compensation for losses with the return of scut

Concessionaires and companies that were charging are requiring compensation for the losses associated with the end of the tolls.

The elimination of tolls on various interior and Algarve highways, in force since 1 January 2025, has been generating requests for millionaire compensation by the companies responsible for charging these fees. Ascendi O&M and Via Free, which provided services to Portugal Infrastructures (IP), presented five formal requests to Replacement of financial balance Contracts, according to the report and 2024 accounts of the IP.

The Free Way, controlled by the Spanish Ferrovial, filed a request relating to the North Coast (A28) and Algarve (A22) concessions. With the new law, two A28 sections were exempt from payment and A22 was completely free. Ascendi O&M, of the French group Ardian, it advanced with four requests, one for each concession where the collection was extinguished: interior North (A24), Beira Interior (A23), Transmontana and Marão (A4) and Beiras Litoral and High (A25). IP did not disclose the required values, according to the.

In addition to these companies, the dealers also claim compensation. Algarve Litoral’s subcontentionaire calls for the replacement of the financial balance alleging traffic deviation from EN125 to the Via do Infante (A22). Aexxi, responsible for the transmontana highway (A4), and the inner pine forest, which generates A13 and A13-1, also presented requests due to the end of the tolls. All of these cases are under IP analysis.

The impact of the measure is already felt on the traffic of the now free roads. Data from the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) show increases greater than 50% in some of them in the first three months of the year. In A13-1, for example, automobile circulation fired 49.5% in January, 53% in February and 48.3% in March. In the Algarve, the Via do Infante registered growth of 33.6% in January, 35.4% in February and 24.6% in March.

The government estimates that the abolition of tolls It will cost 180 million euros in recipes this year. However, IP provides for reducing collection costs, as contracts related to the covered sections have been deactivated.

The executive of Luís Montenegro, who opposed to the approved with votes of the PS and arrives, also warns of possible negative impacts, such as the degradation of the roads and increased claim due to greater traffic.