At a time when the current system of application of classes at tolls begins to register more and more protests from car manufacturers, the Socialist Government, led by António Costa, decides to take a step towards what the industry claims, which defends the setting of toll classes according to aspects such as vehicle weight.
Also with this objective, and after having in hand the report of the working group in charge of reassessing the issue of toll rates, the Government now intends to proceed with a review of the motorway concession contract with Brisa. With, among other purposes, to debate precisely the alteration of the current assumptions that regulate the application of toll fees.
Item J of Dispatch No. 3065/2018 published in the Official Gazette of March 26, 2018The conditions for the implementation of the proposals of the informal Working Group for the 'Possible Revision of the Light Vehicles Classification System (Classes 1 and 2) for the application of Toll Fees', which have the purpose of adapting the current regime to technical and regulatory developments in the automobile market
As for the commission in charge of renegotiating the tolls, it will be led by Maria Ana Soares Zagallo, the head of the team that monitors the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and will have as its mission, in addition to the “possible review of the toll system, the “assessment of contractual rules relating to extensions", "alternative investments of greater proximity", "return of contributions already paid by the Grantor for projects whose implementation has not yet started, nor is it expected to start", and the "exploration of possibilities of obtaining gains from efficiency in the contractual relationship”.
In addition to the contract with Brisa, the Government also intends to renegotiate the contracts of the former SCUT, signed by the previous Government of Pedro Passos Coelho.
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Brisa accepts changes but wants compensation
Faced with government intentions, Brisa has already guaranteed, in statements to the economic newspaper Eco, availability to review the contract currently in force. As long as, he stressed, it is possible to “ensure the economic and financial balance” of it.
Without confirming or denying the existence of any contacts on the part of the Government in this regard, the spokesperson for the concessionaire also stated that “Brisa has the principle not to encourage speculation, in order to preserve the conditions for a normal negotiation process”.
However, it should be remembered that the Government has already taken the initiative to renegotiate the concession agreement, twice, in the recent past: once in 2004, and another in 2008. Having always found, the company says, the proper availability of the part of Brisa, which understands that "the revisions to the concession contract are normal".
The PSA case
There is much reason for dispute on the part of car manufacturers, the issue of tolls and the way in which the different classes are applied to vehicles circulating on national highways was recovered, last February, by the automobile group PSA. Today, led by Portuguese Carlos Tavares, it has a production unit in Mangualde, from which, as of October, a new generation of light vehicles will come out.
These new leisure proposals, or MPV — Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Rifter and Opel Combo —, they will have to pay Class 2 at the tolls, only and only because they have a height in the front axle slightly above 1.10 m, the limit to pay Class 1.
Car fronts are getting higher, not only because of the market's greater appetite for SUVs, but also because of safety issues related to protection systems in case of collision with pedestrians.
At the time, Tavares even issued a sort of ultimatum to the Portuguese Government, warning that the “PES investment in Mangualde” was “at risk, in the medium term”, if no changes were made to the toll classes.
20 thousand vehicles at risk, only in PSA
According to Dinheiro Vivo, the PSA group has forecast an annual production of 100,000 units of the new Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Rifter and Opel Combo models, at the Mangualde plant, in 2019.
Twenty percent of which are destined for the Portuguese market, that is, there is a risk that production will be reduced by 20 thousand vehicles, as sales will be negatively affected by the current toll system.