Planned increases in tolls on the A4 Katowice – Kraków motorway raise doubts. Next week, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection will request explanations from Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska regarding the increases, Tomasz Chróstny, the president of this office, announced on Wednesday in RMF FM. He pointed out that there is room for price increases, but the market cannot be exploited in an unjustified manner.
Stalexport Autostrady SA announced on Tuesday that on January 31, 2023 its subsidiary Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska SA applied to the General Director of National Roads and Motorways for permission for a change from April 3, 2023, toll rates for motorway tolls for vehicles of categories 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska is the concessionaire of the A4 motorway on the Katowice – Kraków section.
Toll sections of motorways in PolandPAP/Maciej Zielinski
Increases on A4 Katowice – Kraków under the scrutiny of UOKiK
The President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, during a Wednesday interview with RMF FM, referred to the information from the listener, who said that after another increase in tolls on the A4 motorway, she would pay PLN 1,200 a month for the journey to and from work alone. – This is the first signal in this case, we will definitely check it (…) at the latest next week we will probably apply for explanations to the entrepreneur to inform what justifies these changes – declared Chróstny.
He was asked whether UOKiK could control the private company Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska. – As the office of Competition and Consumer Protection we must respect the freedom of entrepreneurs to conduct business. Legal regulations, due to the free market economy, give limited possibilities to intervene in such situations. However, if the entrepreneur has a specific position on the market, and here we are dealing with a natural monopoly when it comes to motorway traffic, then such prices cannot be excessively high – noted the head of the antimonopoly office.
As he stressed, of course there is room for price increases, but the market cannot be exploited in an unreasonable way. – We have a legal basis to verify what is happening and whether such actions at the price level, when we are dealing with a dominant position on the market, are economically justified in the situation – Chróstny added.
The company explains
Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska explains that the next increase in a few months – the last one came into force in July last year – is due to inflation.
“Change of toll rates for travel on the A4 concession section, which we are applying for GDDKiA, is the result of the general economic situation, which also affects our business. At its core is care for maintaining the road and accompanying infrastructure in an appropriate standard. The decision on the previous change, from April 2022, did not take into account the particularly high level of inflation recorded for last year,” said Rafał Czechowski, spokesman for Stalexport Autostrada Małopolska.
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