Will toll rates in Colombia be consistent with the state of the roads?

In recent days, the rates of tolls in Colombia They have been on everyone’s lips. And it is thatthe National Government made the decision to freeze prices of the stations on the roads of the country during 2023, although the measure only applies to those managed by the National Institute of Roads (Invías) and the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI)

(See: Two new 4G and 5G works, in the Government’s priorities).

That means that the departmental tolls may increase their value. In addition, it is worth clarifying that there are some concessioned tolls that managed to raise their prices before decree 050 of 2023 was made official and they have already warned that the values ​​will not drop.

To all this panorama is added that some unions in the cargo sector have expressed their objections for the price of tolls.

(See: Brake to the rise of tolls sets off alarms in the infrastructure).

Although they consider that this measure will benefit the sector, they believe that it is necessary to analyze which tolls must be collected and which ones modified, since money that must be allocated to infrastructure maintenance is collected on roads that do not have minimum passability conditions.

“Our proposal is the following: toll rates must be directly proportional to the state of the roads and the services they offer to users. There are tolls that not only should not increase their rate, but should not even be collected. The Ministry of Transport asked all the unions for a report on the state of the roads that are in poor condition and we have already delivered this document with the evidence”, indicates Nidia Hernández, president of Colfecar.

(See: With toll freezing, citizens would pay for roads they don’t use: CCI).

In an interview with Portafolio, the Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, assured that he is evaluating the possibility of adopting the payment of tolls according to the state of the road.

“We are going to review all the roads that are in poor condition and where tolls are charged, establish differential rates, because tolls cannot be suspended by law, and we are going to establish differential rates, as we hope to do on Ruta del Sol while the road is being repaired. via and it is delivered (…) In this case we would establish a differential rate, which can be 80%. We are about to define it and as the road is rehabilitated, the full charge would return“, he assured.

(See: The concessions that will continue with the rise in their toll rates).

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