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Fico: Gov’t Has Made Road-Toll Concessions, But It Isn't Anyone's Puppet
Thursday 28 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 28 (TASR) – The road-toll system will not be re-launched to its full extent on February 1 after further amendments are made, but a few days later, said Prime Minister Robert Fico after negotiations on Thursday with representatives of road hauliers, the National Highway Company (NDS) and road-toll system provider SkyToll.
According to Fico, the Government wants to make sure that the new toll system for first-class roads and clearer records for tolled sections on invoices are really effective.
Fico said that the Cabinet has done everything necessary in order to eliminate the shortcomings of the new electronic road-toll system. He thinks that the introduction of the system is being misused for political reasons, and that some hauliers are organising protests that are illegal. "In connection with this, the Government has made concessions because we needed to compensate people so that no price increases would occur. But the Government is not a puppet on a string as far as breaches of the law by certain people is concerned," he warned.
Fico said that disgruntled hauliers can protest in many legal ways, but not by blockading traffic. "Anyone who attempts to impede the traffic on Slovak roads is committing a serious traffic offence and the criminal act of violating other people's rights. No law in Slovakia allows protests that block road traffic and prevent people from getting to their jobs and families," he stated.
The premier was referring to the Union of Slovak Road Hauliers (UNAS), who blocked main traffic arteries into Bratislava earlier this month and announced on Wednesday afternoon that it would go on strike as of February 1 if its basic demands aren't met. UNAS called on the Transport Ministry last week to mothball the collection of road-tolls until the end of April 2010, and to amend the system of toll collection so that hauliers pay only for fully-traversed sections of tolled motorways and other roads.
The hauliers also demand changes to the way that first-class roads are tolled. Only sections of such roads (approximately 333 kilometres) that run parallel to tolled motorways should be included in the toll system.
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