site.btaRegional Development and Public Works Minister Karadjov: Scope of Road Toll System Not Going to Be Extended

The scope of the road toll system is not going to be extended but the zero rates for some road fees will be scrapped. Also, the toll rates for the roads covered by the system will be increased, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Grozdan Karadjov said Monday, speaking at a second public consultation he called on proposed amendments to the Roads Act and the to Road Fees Rates Schedule. Karadjov said that second-class roads are included the scope of the toll system but with zero toll rates. 

The public consultation was held in the building of Karadjov's Ministry. All trade associations and representatives of small- and medium-sized road carriers were invited at the discussion. 

The new rates schedule is to enter force as of July 1. 

Yordan Arabadjiev of the Union of International Road Carriers said he has calculated that the tolls for heavy-duty trucks will increase between two and three times. 

Karadjov said that there is no other country where proceeds from vignettes are higher than proceeds from tolls. In his view, it is impossible to have car drivers pay 64 per cent of the total proceeds from road fees, and trucks accounting for the remaining 36 per cent. The Minister was adamant that vehicles which ruin the road surface more need to pay more.  

Responding to a demand by road hauliers to have the Road Infrastructure Agency take over the collection of road fees by itself, or to create a state-owned company to carry out the electronic collection of road fees, instead of service providers, Karadjov said that this is not a sound political solution given that "so far not a single problem has been solved by the creation of a yet another state-owned company". In his words, practice has shown that such a solution only impairs the service and makes it move expensive. This is why the form of this activity is not going to be changed but the remuneration to the service providers will be reduced, Karadjov said. 

Responding to a problem flagged by road hauliers who complained that they are often forced to pay compensatory fees because they are not issued statements of administrative breaches, Karadjov said that a check has shown that this is not the common practice. 

Regarding the issue of restricting transit traffic of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and directing it only to motorways and first-class roads by means of banning alternative routes via other roads, Karadjov said that a legal study has shown that such a measures will contravene "sharply" several legal provisions.