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First-Class Roads to Be Tolled As of Monday, March 1
Friday 26 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, February 26 (TASR) - The collection of road-toll on the first class roads will be introduced again as of Monday, March 1, Transport Ministry spokesman Stanislav Jurikovic said on Friday after the talks between representatives of the hauliers, the National Highway Company (NDS) and electronic road-toll provider SkyToll.
"There will be a regulation in effect as of March 1, introducing the road toll on selected sections of first-class roads," said Jurikovic.
However, negotiations between the road-carriers and the Ministry are far from over, as the hauliers object to a number of issues. "We need to concede that the arguments that led to postponing of the toll collection have been dealt with and no longer hold any substance. Currently, only small issues remain to be addressed," said hauliers association CESMAD vice-president Pavol Jancovic.
Among these small issues, he added, are the service code's period of validity for defective or malfunctioning OBUs (On-Board Units), and a number of technicalities regarding the internet websites.
Transporters of the unregistered UNAS association didn't take part in the negotiations, despite their willingness to do so. According to Jurikovic, their presence wasn't necessary, as the participants were only concluding this week's talks. "We invited them to come at 2 p.m. and present their objections. They refused this in written form," added Jurkovic.
The electronic road-toll system was introduced on January 1, 2010. However, the toll collection on the first-class roads has been suspended since January 14 due to the protests of the transporters, but the highways and expressways are still subject to toll collection. Over the course of 47 days, estimated losses in revenue caused by toll suspension have amounted to €150,000-200,000 per day.
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