The details of the study have since been confirmed by the current government who earlier this year pledged to reduce tolls on these motorways “in the summer.”
According to calculations by TSF, a reduction in toll fees will result in an increase of 22 million euros per annum on the seven SCUT motorways.
The Socialist government has explained that this study formed an integral part of their decision to lower tolls this summer, though the reduction and the date of its introduction remain unknown.
One of the biggest potential earners for the state in reducing tolls will be the Algarve’s A22 motorway.
A cut of a mere 15 percent in tolls will see revenue climb by seven million euros, the study found.
Researchers added that even if reductions were to go up to 35 percent, the state would still collect more money from tolls than if were to keep prices unchanged.
Back in May, and four years after the tolls were introduced on SCUT motorways, Parliament agreed that the fees on these roads would be reduced.
Socialist MP Luís Moreira Testa said his party proposed reducing the tolls to “allow people and companies in less favoured areas more mobility and to be more competitive”.
The Socialists did however express opposition against the abolition of the tolls because “it is absolutely imperative and necessary to make sure the budget remains balanced”.
“Unfortunately, that still remains a long way off. What we propose is that there is a trend to give back the rights drivers had in the past, before the tolls were introduced” he said.
The opposition PSD also excluded the elimination of the tolls because they support the user-payer idea.
“If the users don’t pay for the service, it will be up to the tax payer to foot the bill”, PSD MP Luís Leite Ramos said at the time.
While no exact date has been set nor has the amount of the intended reduction been revealed, Algarve MPs from the ruling-Socialists have indicated that this drop could be in the region of 50 percent on current toll fees along the region’s A22 motorway.
The government explained that the cut is justified in that it will increase mobility and economic exchanges in disadvantaged areas in rural Portugal, but added that mainland Portugal’s second wealthiest region, the Algarve, will also benefit as it would be unfair to discriminate.
Pedro Marques, Minister for Planning and Infrastructure said last month that the government does not distinguish between “first and second class citizens, and as a result, toll reductions in the interior will only go ahead once the same can be enforced on all toll roads in question.”
The Minister further argued that “when there is a drop in toll fees, it has to be for all. If the [previous government] had not conducted a disastrous renegotiation with road management companies, then this reduction would have already been in place.”
Despite recent positions pointing to the contrary, Pedro Marques said that the A22 in the Algarve will also be covered by this policy as the EN125 road “is not an alternative, even with all the improvements currently being conducted.”
But the Commission of Algarve Road Users (CUVI) has not been satisfied by this position, and has continued to stage protests in favour of the complete abolition of tolls in the region.
In addition, the Left Bloc, along with the Communist Party earlier this year presented a law decree proposal in which it called for the complete abolition of tolls on the Algarve’s A22.
In comments to The Portugal News at the time, Left Bloc MP and CUVI chief João Vasconcelos, reasoned that “abolishing tolls will come at a lower financial expense than maintaining them on the Algarve’s A22 motorway.
“The proposal we presented covers many areas, but it will essentially call for the total abolition of tolls on the A22”, the MP added.
Vasconcelos has also repeatedly made reference to a pre-election position by Prime Minister António Costa when he stated that the EN125 road is “a massacre” and a “cemetery”, and said it was “time for promises to be kept and to end tolls in the Algarve, a condition that depends solely on the Socialist Party government.”
According to the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR), 27 accidents were registered on average per day in the region in 2015.