Speaking to the Lusa agency, the PS deputy elected by Bragança, Isabel Ferreira, argued that the socialists have been consistent in their commitment to the gradual reduction in toll rates until their elimination. “We precisely made this gradual reduction. In 2021, in January, we did a 25% quantity discount. Then, in July, a 50% reduction and now, since January this year, a 65% reduction compared to 2011 prices. Now that we have reached 65%, we propose an additional effort of 35%, with the aim of its total elimination ”.
The outcome of the votes is still unknown, but those who have been fighting for the end of tolls on those highways for years say that the return to free circulation is a matter of justice.
On the platform for the replacement of SCUT on the A23 and A25 motorways, the debate is awaited with moderate expectations.
The spokesperson, Luís Garra, says he is a realist, as the majority of deputies do not advocate the immediate abolition of tolls.
Luís Garra highlights that deputies elected by circles in the interior of the country can make a difference. “If they are consistent with what they promise in the campaign, the elimination will go ahead. If they are not coherent, it will be proven who is for the Interior and who has been deceiving the Portuguese and particularly the people of the Interior”.
What this person in charge doesn’t understand is Chega’s change in position. “It is very strange or, perhaps, it is not so strange that Chega, in the electoral campaign, promised to eliminate all tolls and that in the case of the Interior it was immediate, were the expressions that André Ventura used, in Macedo de Cavaleiros , and is now trying to make us believe that this is to be studied for six years and essentially presenting not a bill but a proposed resolution, which is no more or less than a recommendation to the Government”.
There is no doubt about the importance of abolishing tolls in the interior of the country. “From a socio-economic point of view, it has been proven that tolls had a very negative effect.”
The conviction of Luís Garra, spokesperson for the platform for the replacement of SCUT on the A23 and A25 motorways.
These two highways are the basis of the claim for this platform, but Luís Garra assumes that it will be extended to all regions in the interior of Portugal.
Written by Rádio Ansiães (CIR)
