The agreement to rule out the implementation of new tolls on roads managed by the State, advanced yesterday by La Vanguardia, has caused unrest in two business sectors that feel harmed: construction and the new high-speed railway companies that compete with Renfe in the process of liberalization of passenger transport. In their strategic lines, they counted that starting a payment for the use of some motorways and expressways could become a new business opportunity that they did not want to miss. But the fact that the Spanish Government has succeeded in modifying the commitment directly punishes its future plans.
The construction companies followed very closely the toll plan that should have been implemented from 2024. The Seopan employer, which groups companies such as Ferrovial, ACS, FCC, OHLA, Sacyr and Acciona, among others, defends that the payment by use is a “mandatory subject” for the next Central Government to try to alleviate the “investment deficit” that, in his opinion, Spanish roads are experiencing. At this moment, and this will continue to be the case, the maintenance of the vast majority of expressways is borne by general budgets, so the sector saw tolls as a solution to increase public tenders for road maintenance.
The construction companies calculate the accumulated road maintenance deficit at at least 7.5 billion by the end of 2022. Business sources regret the decision that the Spanish Government does not address the problem in an ambitious way and remark that in the last decade “the items of conservation and road safety have contracted by 76%”, which means “a problem of safety, ecology (adequate investment would minimize the impact of polluting emissions) and mobility (to create new VAO or reserved bus lanes) “. They are calling on the central government to now, once the toll plan has been withdrawn, study formulas to increase tenders in order to have “a sustainable and 21st century motorway network”.
The second business sector that feels harmed by the agreement that allows the Spanish Government not to implement tolls is that of companies specializing in high-speed rail passenger transport. Companies such as Ouigo and Iryo, with French and Italian capital, respectively, which compete with Renfe, predicted in business plans that paying for the use of dual carriageways and motorways could discourage people from traveling by road and increase traffic on the train . They saw, therefore, also a business opportunity that they will not be able to develop now. The British Trainline, the train ticket comparator, is in a similar situation.
Sources close to these companies indicate that they did not expect the decision to eliminate the toll plan. Just yesterday they raised their displeasure with the Ministry of Transport for what they consider a “penalty for high speed”, they complain. Ouigo even went so far as to describe the free roads as “disguised aid” to transport by all Spaniards through taxes, as its director general, Hélène Valenzuela, said last week.
From the Central Government they minimize that private high-speed operators should be harmed and refer them to the second phase of the liberalization of the transport of passengers by rail. They also remember that the initiative of the Ministry of Transport to provide discounts to young people for travel has benefited these companies.
Renfe has a different vision than its private competitors. The strategic plan of the public operator until 2028 does not foresee any impact on the business due to the elimination of the toll plan of the commitments agreed with Brussels. The company chaired by Raül Blanco does not foresee, therefore, a scenario different from the current one.
