He reiterates that the Government is not considering payment for use on the roads and remembers that it has eliminated 1,000 kilometers of tolls
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has extended his hand to the PP to achieve a consensus in the processing of the Sustainable Mobility Law, whose approval must be formalized before the end of the year to receive a new payment from European funds. .
“It is a project that will require the contribution of everyone and broad consensus. I would like this law to go forward, at least, with the support of the two major parties in this country. And I believe it is possible, not only desirable, but it is possible,” he pointed out in the ‘Wake Up!’ forum. Spain’ from ‘El Español’.
Asked about the debate on pay-per-use on highways, the minister assured that Spain has a pending reflection on how it finances its roads, whether through taxes (as now) or through tolls.
“Roads are not free, either they are paid for through their users or they are paid for through everyone’s taxes. We will have to make a decision and I invite political parties to reflect responsibly,” he said.
The minister has warned that if the choice is to pay them with taxes, “not very fair” situations will continue to occur, such as a truck coming from Germany as it passes through the different countries of the European Union paying to use the roads, but When he arrives in Spain he does it for free.
Puente recalled that the Government’s current policy is to withdraw tolls from all the highways on which they are present as the contracts with the companies in charge of operating them expire.
“What we are doing is going to a uniform system. We have already liberalized tolls on 1,000 of the 2,500 kilometers of highways that we found when we came to government in 2018 and when that is homogenized, we will have to make a decision as a country,” he said. concluded on the matter.
In a subsequent message on the social network ‘X’, the minister rejected that his intention with these statements was to reopen any debate, reiterating that the Government is not considering the option of pay-per-use. “For pay-per-use, a country pact would be desirable,” he says in his message.
SUBURBAN TRANSFER
Regarding the integral transfer of the Commuter trains of Catalonia (Rodalies) to the Generalitat, Puente has warned the Catalans that this operation “will not be a Bálsam de Fierabrás”, that is, that the thefts of catenary cable, the Runovers or damage from vandalism will not be eliminated with the transfer of transfers.
“I am very sorry to say that they are not going to disappear, although it is true that when we make the transfer there will also have been a significant improvement in the infrastructure with the investments that are being made at this moment,” he explained.
COMPETITION WITH OUIGO
Finally, the minister has also been questioned about his statements about Ouigo, one of the rivals of the public Renfe in high speed, which he accuses of unfair competition for dropping ticket prices below 10 euros.
“If in the end what we are going to is going to a system in which the three companies (Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo) lose money and it is the respective states that have to put up the money (all three have public capital), what we are saying is that the cost of high-speed services has to be paid by the Member States, the citizens, through their taxes,” he concluded.
